Game 1 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score

ST. PETER, Minn. — The way the ball was jumping off the bat Saturday afternoon, it wasn't a matter of who scored first, but rather who scored last as the Saint Mary's University baseball team squared off against Gustavus.

And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Gusties not only scored early, but they also scored often, as GAC put together a pair of two-run innings in the fourth and fifth to beat SMU 4-1 in the first game of the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader, then erupted for six runs in the fifth and five more in the sixth — erasing a 9-5 SMU lead — en route to a 17-11 Game 2 victory.

"It was like a launching pad out there," said SMU coach Nick Whaley, whose team gave up five home runs on the day — including four in the Game 2 loss. "I thought the first game was a pretty good ball game all the way around, but the second game, that just turned into a slugfest.

"Both teams were scoring runs at will, it was just a matter of who would score last."

The Gusties jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second game with three runs in the first inning and two more in the second, but the Cardinals battled back, erupted for a season-high six runs in the third inning to grab a 7-5 advantage. SMU padded its lead to 9-5 with two more runs in the fourth, but then it was the Gusties' turn to bust loose — posting a six-run inning of their own, then adding a five-run sixth to seal the deal.

"It's been kind of an up-and-down week," said Whaley, whose team got a three-hit complete-game pitching performance from David Reiter (Elgin, Minn.) in a 2-0 Game 1 win over Macalester last Wednesday, but then dropped Game 2 9-4. "This wasn't one of our best performances of the year, but I was happy with the way we kept battling back in that second game.

"It was like a launching pad out there today," continued Whaley, whose team did get a home run from Nick Winecke (St. Paul, Minn.) and a pair of doubles from Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.) in the second game, but it wasn't enough to offset the Gusties' long-ball barrage. "To put together 15 hits and score 11 runs – and lose — is a bit disappointing, but the guys played hard. Offensively, this was a good day, but the other two facets of the game — pitching and defense — weren't quite so good.

"You can't give up 17 runs and expect to win too many ball games."