St. Thomas Box Score / St. Olaf Box Score

NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Saint Mary's University baseball coach Nick Whaley knew that if his team was going to have any success against St. Thomas in the opening round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, his Cardinals were going to have to get off to a fast start.

Unfortunately for Whaley, his Cardinals didn't — but the Tommies sure did.

St. Thomas scored three times in the top of the first inning, then put the game out of reach with a four-run eighth inning as UST knoc ked off the Cardinals 10-2 in an opening-round game.

The Tommies battered three SMU pitchers for 15 hits, including seven off starter Eric Williamson (St. Charles, Minn.), who allowed five earned runs in suffering his first loss of the season. Chuck Wright (Winona, Minn.) lasted just 1.1 innings in relief, as UST battered the sophomore for four runs on five hits. Mia Daggett (La Crosse, Wis.) went the final 1.2 innings, surrendering 1 run on three hits.

After giving up three in the first, the Cardinals traded single runs with the Tommies in both the fourth and sixth innings — with Jamie Nowaczewski (St. Paul, Minn.) lacing a base-loaded RBI single in the fourth and Scott Morrison (St. Paul, Minn.) driving in the other run in the sixth with a single — but UST added another run in the seventh and then iced it with the four-run eighth.

Tony Cicalello (St. Paul, Minn.) was a perfect 4-for-4 — the first four-hit performance of his career — while Morrison and Greg Setterlund (St. Paul, Minn.) each added two hits to pace the Cardinals' 11-hit attack.ardinals out of the double-elimination tournament.