Game 1 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For the Saint Mary's University baseball team, good things came in threes Saturday afternoon.

The Cardinals parlayed three, three-run innings, into their three-game winning streak since 2005, as SMU swept Framingham (Mass.) State 4-3 (9 innings) and 6-0.

"We got good pitching and some timely hitting," said SMU coach Nick Whaley, whose team improved to 3-3 overall with its first two wins during the Cardinals' spring trip. "I thought we did a nice job of staying with the game — in fact, letting the game come back to us a bit in that first game. When (Framingham State) went up 3-0, we could have pressed a bit and tried to get it all back with one swing of the bat.

"Instead, we just hung in there, waited for the opportunity to present itself, and then got the job done."

The Cardinals spotted the Rams a 3-0 lead after three innings, but knotted things up in the bottom of the fifth, getting RBI singles from Brandon Haugh (Easton, Minn.) and Kevin Black (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and the game-tying run on a Rams' wild pitch.

SMU had a golden opportunity to win the opener in the bottom of the seventh, but Haugh got thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on a single by Kyle Ryan (St. Paul, Minn.).

The Cardinals got another chance in the bottom of the ninth — and this time made it pay off. Nick Winecke (St. Paul, Minn.) led off with a single to left, was sacrificed to second and scored on an RBI single by Haugh.

"That seventh inning could have been a killer," said Whaley. "But the guys didn't let it get them down, they just went out and kept playing baseball."

The Cardinals erupted for a season-high six runs in the nightcap, but they only needed one, as freshmen David Baker (Monticello, Minn.) and David Dahlstrom (Rochester, Minn.) combined on a one-hit shutout. Baker went the first five innings, allowing just a fourth-inning infield single, while Dahlstrom was perfect in two innings of relief.

"Our pitchers did a great job all day," said Whaley, whose team plated three runs in the third and three more in the sixth to proved their pitchers all the offensive support they would need. "It was just a good day of Cardinal baseball."