Game 1 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score

WINONA, Minn. — After watching his Saint Mary's University baseball team give up 17 runs on 18 hits in a 17-11 loss to Gustavus last Saturday, Cardinal head coach Nick Whaley must have figured it couldn't get any worse.

And then Bethel came to town.

The Royals one-upped the Gusties Tuesday afternoon, scoring 18 runs on 17 hits in handing SMU its fourth straight loss, an 18-4 decision in the opening game of the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at Max Molock Field.

And things didn't get much better in the nightcap, as the Royals blanked the Cardinals on six hits, while scoring nine runs of their own in a 9-0 Game 2 victory.

"They hit the heck out of the ball," understand Whaley of the Royals, who roughed up seven Cardinal pitchers for 27 runs on 30 hits — while also taking advantage of three SMU errors. "(Bethel) is a good-hitting club — they beat up on us pretty good."

Bethel scored in every inning in Game 1, getting a lead-off home run from Brandon Carr in the top of the first inning — and the Royals never looked back, plating four more in the second, five in the third, one in the fourth, two in both the fifth and sixth, and three more in the seventh.

SMU, meanwhile, managed to cut the gap to 10-4 with four runs in the bottom of the third, fueled by a two-run double off the bat of Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.) and a pair of Bethel errors.

It was more of the same in Game 2, as the Royals — who had at least one base runner in all 14 innings — scored single runs in the second and third, before breaking the game open with a three-run fourth and a four-run sixth.

"This certainly isn't the type of memory we wanted our seniors to have of their final home games, that's for sure," said Whaley, whose five graduating seniors — Dan Cosgrove (South St. Paul, Minn.), Dan Fiorentino (Chicago, Ill.), David Reiter (Elgin, Minn.), Tim Kreiser (Eagan, Minn.) and manager Steve Black (Mahtomedi, Minn.) — were playing their final two games at Max Molock Field. "It was one of those days you'd like to put behind you as quickly as possible.

"Give Bethel credit, they are a very good team — and they swung the bats well today."