Game 1 Box Score /
Game 2 Box Score /
GameDay Online
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The weather conditions were similar to the last time they stepped on the field during their spring trip to Fort Myers, Fla. — 70 degrees, no wind, no humidty.
Unfortunately for the Saint Mary's University baseball team, the end result wasn't quite the same, as the Cardinals — who were coming off a 6-4 win over Illinois College last Friday — opened their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schedule with back-to-back losses to Augsburg at the HHH Metrodome Friday afternoon.
"We did not play all that well," said SMU coach
Nick Whaley, whose team dropped the opener 5-2, then had its seventh-inning comeback fall short in losing the second game 13-12. "It's always a little different playing in the Dome, but that wasn't the problem for us today. We got decent pitching, but didn't get the clutch hits we needed in the first game, and then in the second game, our offense was good, but our defense and pitching weren't up to par.
"It was just one of those days when we couldn't put it all together at the same time."
When it comes to excitement, Game 1's two-run, 5-3 decision paled in comparison to the fireworks that took place in Game 2, where the Auggies jumped out to leads of 4-0 (after three innings) and 13-6 (after six innings).
Then came the top of the seventh.
The Cardinals loaded the bases with no one out, got an RBI hit by pitch from
Tyler Kruse (Minneapolis, Minn.) and a two-run fielder's choice groundout by
Sean Ohl (Bloomington, Minn.) to cut the tap to 13-9 — and SMU was just getting warmed up.
A walk to
Kevin Black (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and a single by
Kyle Ryan (St. Paul, Minn.) — who went 4-for-5 in the nightcap — re-loaded the bases for
Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.), who delivered a two-run single to make it 13-11. An RBI single by
Brandon Haugh (Easton, Minn.) made it a one-run game with the tying run on second. That run, however, would remain stranded, as the Auggies got
Ryan Archambault (Faribault, Minn.) on strikes to end the inning — and the game.
There were no late-game heroics in the opener — in fact, there was little offense at all, as SMU plated its only two runs in the third, taking advantage of four runs and an Augsburg error to take a 2-1 advantage. The Auggies responded with three runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to seal the win.
"It's was a bit of an up-and-down day," said Whaley. "It's not exactly the way we wanted to start (the conference season), but there's a lot of baseball to be played, so we'll just have to regroup and get ready for (Gustavus on Wednesday)."
