Wittenberg Box Score / William Penn Box Score

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Sometimes, good just isn't good enough.

The Saint Mary's University baseball team turned in back-to-back good performances Friday afternoon, but in each case, the Cardinals' good wasn't quite good enough.

SMU scored runs in each of the first four innings — including a three-run fourth to take a 6-5 lead —  in its opener against Wittenberg, but the Warhawks got a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth to beat the Cardinals 7-6.

The Cardinals then put a runner on in all seven innings, only to come up empty each time as William Penn blanked SMU 5-0 in the second game.

"Those were two good, close baseball games," said SMU coach Nick Whaley. "We got the chance to execute a lot of different situations, and I thought we did a pretty good job."

SMU's opener against Wittenberg had the feel of a heavyweight fight, and with each punch the Warhawks or Cardinals threw, the other countered.

After getting single runs in each of the first two innings — the first on an RBI triple by Matt Rink and the second on an RBI single by Seth Pugh (Crystal, Minn.) — SMU gave up three in the bottom of the second to fall behind, 3-2. An RBI groundout by Pat Gornick (West St. Paul, Minn.) tied the game in the top of the third, but again Wittenberg responded, scoring a pair of runs on four hits in the bottom of the third to take a 5-3 advantage.

"That was a great baseball game," said Whaley, whose team took the lead, 6-5, with a three-run fourth — highlighted by Pugh's solo home run — but gave up two runs in the bottom of the fifth in dropping their second straight. "I was happy with the way our guys battled. Every time (Wittenberg) scored, we answered, which was good to see."

The Cardinals had plenty of opportunities to execute against William Penn, but couldn't string enough hits together.

"We just couldn't get the big hits (against William Penn)," said Whaley. "We worked hard to get the guy on base, we just couldn't get that big hit when we needed it.

"Nick (Steig / Osseo, Wis.) pitched a great game, good enough to get the win," continued Whaley of his senior left-hander, who was making his first career start after three seasons in the bullpen. "It was a tough day (from a won-loss standpoint) — we played well enough to win two, and instead we got beat twice."