Game 1 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score

NORTHFIELD , Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team has lived by the late-inning rally all season.

Saturday afternoon against Carleton, the Cardinals lived — and died — by one.

Carleton got a bases-clearing double by Luke Muellerleile in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Knights to a x6-5 victory over SMU in the first game of the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader.

And in the second game, SMU figured one good late-inning rally deserved another, as the Cardinals scored three times in the top of the seventh to tie the game, then scored the game-winning run on the last of Carleton's 10 errors on the day to win 5-4 and earn a split.

"It was a tough, tough day to play," said SMU coach Nick Whaley. "With the wind blowing as hard as it was, it really too away a lot of our (offensive) power. I wouldn't say it was one of our best performances of the year, but to bounce back the way we did — after a gut-wrenching loss like that in the first game — was great to see."

After scoring twice in the top of the fifth — fueled by an RBI double from Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.) to break a 3-3 tie, the Cardinals had what seemed like a sure victory snatched from their grasp as the Knights loaded the bases with two outs, setting up Muellerleile's game-ending heroics.

The Cardinals were staring at a 4-1 deficit with one at-bat remaining in the nightcap, but SMU made the most of those final three outs, getting a two-run double from Ryan Majerus (St. Charles, Minn.) and then scoring the game-tying run on a Carleton error to send the game into extra innings.

In the eighth, Nick Winecke (St. Paul, Minn.) singled to deep short, but was forced out a second on a grounder by Majerus. Matt Rink (Rochester, Minn.), who went 3-for-5 in the second game, singled to center, moving Majerus to second, and the senior scored when Carleton third baseman Nicholas Shepard threw away a ground ball by Knudsen.

"That first game was a tough one to lose," said Whaley, whose team had its three-game winning streak snapped with the Game 1 loss. "And I think the way that game ended affected us a bit at the start of the second game. But we never let the game get away from us and we just kept battling.

"It's nice to come away with a split — but I'm not sure I can handle too many more of those late-game heroics."