Game 1 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Scott Morrison's (St. Paul, Minn.) two-run homer — his second of the game — with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning lifted the Saint Mary's baseball team to a 6-5 victory over St. Thomas in Game 1 of Thursday's MIAC doubleheader.

Jake Mauer's three-run homer in the first inning and Tom Carroll's three-run double in the seventh inning propelled St. Thomas to an 8-1 victory in the second game.

The games — moved from Winona due to wet grounds — were played at UST's diamond in St. Paul, with the Cardinals the home team each game.

With the split, the MIAC championship race is still wide open with four days to go. St. Thomas (28-5, 14-2) still has road doubleheaders at fifth-place Gustavus on Saturday and co-leader St. Olaf (23-7, 14-2) on Monday. SMU (17-5, 14-3) is idle Saturday and finishes Monday at Hamline. St. Olaf hosts fourth-place Concordia Saturday and the Tommies on Monday.

The top four finishers play in the MIAC playoffs, May 11-13 in Northfield and Dundas. The playoff champion gets the MIAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III playoffs. SMU, St. Olaf and St. Thomas have already qualified for the conference tournament.

In the opener, the Cardinals trailed 5-3 but used two Tommie errors in their seventh-inning rally. Aaron Smolinski (White Bear Lake, Minn.) led off the bottom of the seventh with an infield single. Tony Cicalello (St. Paul, Minn.) reached on Jake Mauer's error. Jamie Nowaczewski's (St. Paul, Minn.) grounder resulted in a force out at second, but the relay to first was wild to make it 5-4 with one out. Greg Setterlund (St. Paul, Minn.) flied out for the second out, but Morrison stroked an 0-2 pitch over the fence in left for the dramatic win that halted UST's 13-game winning streak and pulled the Cardinals even with the Tommies atop the MIAC standings at 15-2.

The Toms took a 1-0 lead as Brad Bonine led off the game with a home run. After a one-out walk to Setterlund, Morrison homered to left in the first for a 2-1 lead. The Toms tied it in the fifth 2-2 on a one-out double by Bonine, a bunt single by Tony Wolverton and Mauer's sacrifice fly. The Toms score three in the sixth to knock out Cardinal starter Eric Williamson (St. Charles, Minn.). A two-out infield hit by Ryan Benson, an RBI triple by Matt Buzzell, and Kyle Olson's two-run homer put UST ahead 5-2. The Toms loaded the bases, by reliever Nick Steig (Osseo, Wis.) got a ground out to end the threat.

The Cardinals made it 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth on a one-out double by
David McMahon (Coon Rapids, Minn.) and an RBI single by Joe Duda (Rochester, Minn.).

In Game 2, UST junior Adam Hunkins improved to 7-0 on the season as he allowed two hits, two walks and one run with six strikeouts in five innings. Freshman Sean Lindstrom retired all six batters he faced in relief, with two strikeouts.

Brad Bonine led off the first inning with a walk, Matt Buzzell singled and Mauer homered off Cardinal starter Cory Kanz (4-1). The Toms made it 4-0 in the third with an unearned run that was knocked home by Casey Garven's single. SMU scored its only run in the bottom of the four on back-to-back doubles from Duda and McMahon.

St. Thomas iced the game in the seventh.Buzzell's RBI single made it 5-1, and Carroll's bases-loaded double plated the final three runs.