Game 1 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — While every other team in Minnesota was stuck hitting in cages and patiently waiting for the opportunity to get outside and get their baseball seasons underway, Saint Mary's University was doing just that, playing baseball — outside.

The Cardinals became the first team in Minnesota to play a collegiate game this season — make that two games — as the Cardinals kicked off their season Friday afternoon at Christian Brothers University.

Unfortunately, while the Cardinals were the first to actually play a game, they may not be the first to win a game, as the Pirates swept both games of the teams' nonconference doubleheader, winning the opener 4-0, before adding a 6-5 win in the nightcap.

"We went into (the doubleheader) with a plan to play with a relaxed intensity," said SMU coach Nick Whaley. "We had the intensity (in the first game), but we didn't quite accomplish the relaxed part.

"We were very tight, which is to be expected with a young group like this playing in their first games," said Whaley, whose team committed four errors in the two games. "We did a much better job of competing in the second game."

The Cardinals' were as cold as the temperatures they left in Winona in Game 1, as Bucs' pitcher John Daush came within one out of a perfect game, giving up a two-out single to Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.). Daush struck out six, while SMU starting pitcher Mike Mitchell (Mound, Minn.) was tagged for six hits and four runs (three earned) in five innings.

SMU's bats showed some signs of life in the nightcap, as the Cardinals scored once in the first and twice in the second to take a 3-0 lead. CBU answered back with a single run in the bottom of the third and three more in the fourth to grab a 4-3 advantage. SMU knotted things up in the fifth with an unearned run, but back-to-back Buc runs in the fifth and sixth iced the win for CBU.

Knudsen and Robbie Johnson (Lake Elmo, Minn.) each went 2-for-4 in Game 2, while Dan Cosgrove (South St. Paul, Minn.) drove in a pair of runs.

"Overall, there were plenty of bright spots," said Whaley, whose team will play the Bucs again Saturday in one, nine-inning game. "Our goal is to get better each day — tomorrow will be a better day than today."