Game 1 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team was at it again Sunday afternoon, working their late-inning magic against Hamline.

Problem was, the Pipers had a few late-game tricks up their sleeve as well.

The Cardinals led 3-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh — and the Pipers tied it.

SMU held a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth — and Hamline tied it.

The Cardinals boasted a one-run, 6-5 advantage heading into the bottom of the ninth — and, you guessed it, the Pipers tied it.

Saint Mary's came up empty in the top of the 10th, but the Pipers didn't, scoring on a two-out SMU error to post a 7-6 victory and complete a Minnesota Intercollegiate athletic Conference sweep of the Cardinals.

Hamline opened the day by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the first and never looking back in beating SMU 12-3.

"We did not play well in the first game, but the second game was a great college baseball game," said SMU coach Nick Whaley, whose team has now dropped three straight MIAC contests to fall to 4-4 in the conference and 11-6 overall. "(Game 2) was one of those games where it was too bad someone had to lose — especially us."

Bouncing back from a dismal Game 1 effort, in which they were held to just five hits — two coming off the bat of Matt Rink (Rochester, Minn.), who also drove in two of SMU's three runs — the Cardinals erased an early 2-0 Hamline lead with a pair of fifth-inning runs. Dan Cosgrove (South St. Paul, Minn.) led off with a double, moved to third on a single by Jose Rueda (Winona, Minn.) and scored on a wild pitch. Rueda moved to third on an infield bunt single by Kevin Black (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and scored on a passed ball to knot the game at 2-2.

An unearned run in the top of the sixth gave SMU a 3-2 lead, only to have Hamline tie things at 3-3 with an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh — and then the fun began.

Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.) and David Krieger (Mendota Heights, Minn.) delivered RBI singles to give SMU a two-run lead, only to have Hamline respond with two runs of its own, in the bottom of the eighth.

A one-out Hamline error gave SMU a gift run in the top of the ninth, but the Cardinals gave it right back with an unearned run in the bottom half. SMU put runners on first and second with one out in the 10th but failed to score, only to have Hamline parlay a hit and two SMU errors into a game-winning run in their half of the inning.

"It really was a great game," said Whaley. "I was very pleased with the way we bounced back from that first game and really battled (in Game 2). The guys never gave up, and it's unfortunate they weren't able to come away with the win they deserved.

"The MIAC is a tough, tough conference to play in," continued Whaley. "Every game we play is going to be a battle from start to finish, and today was a perfect example of that. (Game 2) was a game either team could have won — unfortunately, we came out on the short end."