Game 1 Box / Game 2 Box / GameDay Online

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — Jack Dwyer (Minneapolis, Minn.) enjoyed a career day in the first game of the Saint Mary's University baseball team's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Bethel, as the freshman outfielder put together his first collegiate three-hit performance, while also collecting his first collegiate home run.

Unfortunately, Dwyer's firsts weren't enough to give the Cardinals their first, as Bethel kept SMU winless in conference play with a 7-5 Game 1 victory.

Dwyer wasn't in the Cardinals' bating order for Game 2, but the freshman certainly did his part — again — picking up his first collegiate pitching win in helping SMU to its first MIAC win of the season, a 6-3 decision.

“It feels good,” said SMU coach Nick Winecke of his teams first conference win — and his first MIAC coaching victory. “The guys really fought hard and I was proud of the way they hung in there. The first game was a tough loss, we were right there in the seventh and couldn't quite get the job done, but they guys didn't let it affect them — they came out and played great in the second game.”

In the opener, Dwyer was a one-man wrecking crew at the plate, picking up singles in his first two at-bats, before belting his first collegiate round-tripper — a two-run shot to left field — in the sixth. Tyler Kruse (Minneapolis, Minn.) added a pair of hits in three at-bats and drove in SMU's two seventh-inning runs.

And in the nightcap, Dwyer did his talking with his arm, allowing three runs on four hits in three innings, while a trio of Cardinal relievers held Bethel scoreless over the final four innings to seal the win.

After surrendering a single run in the bottom of the first, SMU got all the runs it would need in the second, scoring four times — including a two-run single by Zach Olberding (Maplewood, Minn.) — to take a 4-1 advantage.

Bethel cut the gap to 4-3 with two runs in the third, but SMU responded with a pair of runs of its own in the top of the fourth to lock up conference win No. 1.

“I've said it all season, and I'll say it again today, our goal is to make sure to put ourselves in position to win ball games, and today, we did that in both games,” said Winecke, whose team returns to action Tuesday, playing host to St. Olaf in a conference doubleheader at Max Molock Field. “We had our chances in the first game, but a base-running mistake took us out of big seventh inning. And in the second, we swung the bats very well, jumped out to a good lead, and played very well down the stretch.

“It's nice to get that (first conference) win — we've had more than our share of chances, and today, we finally got the job done.”