Box Score

WAVERLY, Iowa — After watching his team come oh-so-close to knocking off cross-town rival and an NCAA Division II power Winona State last Wednesday — a game in which the Warriors escaped with a 3-2 victory — SMU coach Nick Whaley couldn't wait for his Cardinals to get back on the field.

Sunday afternoon, Whaley got his wish as SMU took on 26th-ranked Wartburg.

Nine innings later, Whaley couldn't wait for his Cardinals to get off the field.

Wartburg scored in seven of the eight innings it batted — including four times in the first and three times in the eighth — as the Knights cruised to a 14-1 nonconference victory.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 1-0 lead in their half of the first inning, scoring an unearned run when Ryan Majerus (St. Charles, Minn.) reached on an error and scored on back-to-back groundouts by Tony Cicalello (St. Paul, Minn.) and Matt Rink (Rochester, Minn.).

That, however, was the extent of the good news for SMU as Wartburg retaliated with four runs in the bottom of the first. The first six Wartburg batters to face SMU starter Cory Kanz (Oronoco, Minn.) reached safely. The Knights added two more runs in the second and never looked back.

Cicalello finished with two of SMU's five hits, while Rink, Rob Kimlinger (Lake Elmo, Minn.) and Matt Domarus (Woodbury, Minn.) each had one hit.

Wartburg, meanwhile, banged out 19 hits against four SMU pitchers — including nine hits and seven earned runs off Kanz, who lasted the first four innings.