Game 1 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score

WINONA, Minn. — This time around, the Saint Mary's University baseball team ran out of answers.

After posting yet another come-from-behind victory in Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener against Macalester — scoring six times in the third to erase a 5-1 deficit then adding three runs in the bottom of the fourth to break a 7-7 tie en route to a 10-8 win — the Cardinals found themselves staring up out of a 5-0 hole after three innings vs. the Scots.

Only this time, just as the Cardinals were about to climb out of the hole, the Scots stepped on their fingers, sending them back to the bottom.

Macalester scored in every inning but the fourth and seventh — including plating five runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth as the Scots earned a split with a 13-5 Game 2 victory.

"We let the game get away from us in the second game," said SMU coach Nick Whaley, whose team fell to 4-2 in the MIAC and 11-4 overall with the split — their second straight conference split, after opening the MIAC season with a 9-3, 6-4 sweep of Gustavus. "We've proven all the season that the game will come back to you if you let it — we didn't let it (in the second game).

"We got close (5-3), but then they jumped on us for a five-spot (in the fifth), and we just weren't able to bounce back," continued Whaley. "Give (Macalester) credit, they played a great game, they deserved to win."

The Scots jumped out to a 3-0 lead in Game 2 without the luxury of a hit, as they used a walk, a stolen base and an RBI groundout to score once in the first inning, then took advantage of two SMU errors to plate two more runs in the top of the second.

Macalester made it 5-0, before SMU's bats came to life, scoring three times in the bottom of the fourth. SMU got RBI singles from Matt Rink (Rochester, Minn.), Satoshi Hayashi (Hokkaido, Japan) and Mark Pederson (Lexington, Minn.) to cut the Scots' lead to two, 5-3, but Macalester responded with five runs in the top of the fifth to push the lead back to 10-3.

"We did not play well in that second game," said Whaley, whose team got as close as 10-5 on a two-run fifth-inning triple from Rink — but that was as close as they would get. "We gave (Macalester) 17 free baserunners in that game (five walks, four errors and eight stolen bases) — we can't afford to be doing that and expect to win."

The Cardinals spotted Macalester a 5-1 lead in the opener, but scored six runs in the third, when they sent 11 batters to the plate and parlayed three hits — a two-run double by Jose Rueda (Winona, Minn.), a two-run single by Kevin Black (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and an RBI triple by Nick Winecke (St. Paul, Minn.) — two walks and two hit-batsmen into a 7-5 lead.

Macalester got two in the top of the fourth to tie the game, 7-7, but SMU again answered back, scoring three times in its half of the fourth — one on a Rueda RBI single and the other two on bases-loaded walks to Black and Ryan Majerus (St. Charles, Minn.) — to seal the win.

"It was a tough day for us," said Whaley, whose team returns to action Saturday, traveling to Hamline for an MIAC doubleheader. "We didn't play as well as we are capable, and when we don't play at that high level, this is what happens."