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WINONA, Minn. — If Saint Mary's University baseball coach Nick Winecke hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he probably would not have believed it either.

After all, SMU's Game 2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against St. Thomas had an ending you just had to see to believe.

The Cardinals, who dropped the opener of their final twinbill of the season 5-0, entered their final at-bat Wednesday — and what appeared to be the final half inning of the collegiate careers of five SMU seniors — trailing the seventh-ranked Tommies 4-2.

Those seniors, however, refused to let their season end.


Down to their last out, and runners on second and third — thanks to a lead-off single by pinch hitter Curt Swanson (Woodbury, Minn.) and a clutch, two-out double by one of those seniors, Tyler Kruse (Minneapolis, Minn.) — Kyle Ryan (St. Paul, Minn.) delivered a two-run single to tie the game at 4-4.

Zach Olberding (Maplewood, Minn.) followed with a single up the middle and after falling behind 0-2, Chris Bogie (St. Paul, Minn.) outlasted UST reliever Brandon Stone to earn a walk and load the bases.

Enter senior Brandon Haugh (Easton, Minn.).

Like Bogie before him, Haugh fell behind 0-2 vs. Stone, worked the count full, and delivered what may be the biggest hit of his collegiate career, lacing a 3-2 offering down the left-field line to score Ryan with the game-winning run, as the Cardinals stunned the Tommies 5-4 to earn the conference split at Max Molock Field.

There could not have been a better storybook ending.

“You couldn't ask for anything better than that,” said Winecke, whose team snapped a 17-game losing streak against the Tommies, but, more importantly, gave their senior class the most memorable going-away present they could possibly want. “This group of seniors has been through so much, it was just a perfect way for them to go out.

“To have Brandon come up with that type of at-bat in his final game as a Cardinal … it just doesn't get any better — it's the type of ending you had to see to believe.”

As if having to face the nation's seventh-ranked team wasn't enough, the Cardinals had to face them less than 24 hours after UST knocked off the University of Minnesota 6-3.

Yes, that University of Minnesota.

And, for 11 innings, the Tommies appeared to have things on cruise control, rolling to the easy, 5-0 Game 1 win in which a pair of UST pitchers held SMU to seven hits — only two after the second inning — and leading 2-0 after the first four innings of Game 2.

Then things got interesting — or nerve-wracking if you were Winecke.

SMU cut the gap to 2-1 on an RBI single by Kruse, only to give that run — and one more — back in the Tommies' half of the sixth.

The Cardinals again plated a single run in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI groundout by Bogie, and, after getting the Tommies out in the seventh, sharpened their pencils and began writing that epic final chapter.

“I'm so proud of the way our guys battled today,” said Winecke, who closed out his first year as the Cardinals' head coach with a 2-18 MIAC mark and an 8-28 overall record. “This team has hung together all season and today, they were rewarded for it in a big way.

“We're going to miss our seniors,” added Winecke, referring to Kruse, Haugh, Andy Pass (Roseville, Minn.) — who went 6 1/3 innings in the opener, striking out three and scattering nine hits — Alex Schmidt (La Crosse, Wis.) and Robbie Johnson (Lake Elmo, Minn.). “They have given so much to this program — I'm glad we could give them something back with that Game 2 win.”