Mount Unioin Box Score / Carthage Box Score

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — If Nick Whaley was looking for a defining moment in his Saint Mary's University baseball team's final day of its spring trip, it happened early in the day — the first inning of the first game, to be exact.

In their first trip to the plate against Mount Union, the Cardinals put together three straight singles to load the bases with nobody out — and failed to score even one run.

In the bottom of the first, Mount Union put runners on second and third with one out — and promptly got an RBI single, sending the Purple Raiders on their way to a 10-6 nonconference win over SMU.

Things didn't go much better in the nightcap, as the Cardinals managed just one hit — a Matt Rink (Rochester, Minn.) lead-off single to left in the second inning — through the first seven innings of their nine-inning game against Carthage. SMU did string together three singles, including a two-out RBI single by Ryan Majerus (St. Charles, Minn.), in the ninth, but by then it was too little, too late, as Carthage, scored once in the first, three times in the seventh and twice in the eighth en route to the 6-1 victory.

After falling behind 3-0 against Mount Union, SMU tied the game 3-3 with three runs in the top of the third, as Cris Collins (Rochester, Minn.) delivered an RBI double, Pat Gornick (West St. Paul, Minn.) laced an RBI single and Majerus lifted a sacrifice fly.

The game didn't stay tied long, however, as Mount Union scored two in the bottom of the third and five more in the fourth to put the game out of reach. SMU did manage to plate two runs in the fifth — getting RBI singles from Rob Kimlinger (Lake Elmo, Minn.) and Greg Sears (Webster, Wis.) — and one more in the sixth, but that was as close as the Cardinals would get.

"In that first game we kept battling back," said Whaley. "Offensively, we did a nice job of getting some big hits, but each time we battled to get back in the game, we let (Mount Union) string some hits together and get back out front. We just couldn't shut them down."

Gornick did his part to shut down Carthage, as the junior right-hander gave up a first-inning run, then kept the Indians off the scoreboard until the seventh, when Carthage took advantage of a two-out error to score three times and take a commanding 4-0 advantage. SMU, meanwhile, managed just three baseruners over the first seven innings — Rink's single and two hit batsmen.

"(The Carthage game) was a great college baseball game – certainly a closer game than the final score indicated," said Whaley. "(Carthage) is a regional-caliber team and I thought we played right with them. Pat did hit part, throwing strikes, we just didn't give him any offensive support."

Despite the two losses — which left SMU 1-5 in their three-day spring trip — Whaley certainly wasn't disappointed with his team's opening six games.

"We're 1-5, but I leave Florida with a good feeling about our ballclub," said Whaley. "We competed offensively, battled hard, and I think we learned a lot about our makeup as a team. There's still plenty of work to be done — but now we have a better idea where that work lies."