WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team had NCAA Division II Winona State right where they wanted them Thursday evening.
Through seven-and-a-half innings, the Cardinals matched the Warriors hit-for-hit and run-for-run.
Then came the bottom of the eighth, and one mistake turned a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 Winona State win, as WSU's Seth McMullen launched a two-run home run to lift the Warriors to the nonconference victory.
“It was a great baseball game,” said SMU coach
Nick Winecke. “We gave (Winona State) all they could handle. Unfortunately, one pitch proved to be the difference.
“You never like to lose, but I thought we played a solid game — we gave one of the best (NCAA) Division II teams in the Midwest all they could handle. I think we earned a little respect today.”
The Warriors got on the board first, scoring on an RBI groundout by Joe Kley in the bottom of the second. SMU answered in the top of the seventh, as
Curt Swanson (Woodbury, Minn.) walked, stole second, moved to third on a one-out groundout by
Ryan Archambault (Faribault, Minn.) and scored on a wild pitch.
That would be the extent of the scoring until McMullen launched a
Justin Kronebusch (Altura, Minn.) offering over the left-center field fence to seal the Warriors' victory.
Gary Seifert (Prescott, Wis.) went the first six innings for SMU (3-2 overall), allowing one run on two hits, while walking one and striking out one. Winona State, meanwhile, used nine different pitchers — all getting one inning of work — with Kodey Simon earning the win and Tony Mueller pitching the ninth for his first save of the season.
Chris Bogie (St. Paul, Minn.),
Jake Lechner (Roseville, Minn.) and
Andrew Warren (Stillwater, Minn.) accounted for SMU's three hits, while Adam Gemuenden collected two of WSU's four hits.
The Cardinals are back in action on Sunday, returning to the Metrodome for a 7 p.m. nonconference doubleheader against Loras.
