Game 1 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — When it comes to their offensive performance, the Saint Mary's University baseball team's bats are as unpredictable as the weather they play in.

The Cardinals managed just 10 hits in dropping back-to-back decisions to Northwestern last Wednesday, then turned around and banged out 11 hits — in just seven innings — in a 5-2 win over UW-La Crosse the following day.

Monday afternoon, SMU's bats returned to their early spring hibernation, as the Cardinals mustered just 12 hits — and seven runs — in their two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games against Saint John's.

And against a team like SJU, 12 hits and seven runs isn't nearly enough, as the Johnnies swept the Cardinals, 5-3 and 7-4.

"We just weren't able to come up with any timely hits," said SMU coach Nick Whaley. "We got pretty solid starting pitching and we played OK in the field — it just came down to not doing a very good job at the plate."

The Cardinals got out of the gate quickly in the opener, scoring twice in the first inning — on a two-run single by Robbie Johnson (Lake Elmo, Minn.) — then added an unearned run in the second to take a 3-0 advantage.

That, however, would be the last time SMU would plate a run until the third inning of Game 2.

SJU, meanwhile, would score twice in the third, twice in the fourth and once in the fifth to rally past the Cardinals in the opener, then scored a single run in the first and two in the second and led 3-1 after three innings of Game 2. The Johnnies padded that lead to 7-1, before the Cardinals' bats returned to life with three runs in the top of the seventh.

That late rally, however, was too little, too late as SMU fell to 0-2 in the MIAC and 4-9 overall.

"If we are going to be successful, we have to play at a high level in all three facets of the game," said Whaley. "Today, we were good in two of the three — pitching and fielding — but we weren't very good in the third."