MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — For the Saint Mary's University baseball team, all good things — and bad — came in threes Sunday evening.
The Cardinals managed just three runs and three hits in dropping the first game of their nonconference doubleheader against Loras at the HHH Metrodome 7-3. SMU plated just three runs in the second game as well, but this time around, that was more than enough run support, as the Cardinals earned the split with a 3-1 victory.
The Cardinals couldn't get their offense on track in the opener, managing just three hits — including doubles from
Andrew Warren (Stillwater, Minn.) and
Cody Pfennig (La Crosse, Wis.) — while scoring all three of their runs without the benefit of a hit.
After giving up solo runs in the first and third innings, SMU knotted things up in the bottom of the fourth, as
Kyle Ryan (St. Paul, Minn.) scored on a
Curt Swanson (Woodbury, Minn.) sacrifice fly and
Chris Bogie (St. Paul, Minn.) scored on a wild pitch.
Loras regained the lead for good with a run in the fifth, then broke the game open with a four-run, five-hit sixth inning to take a 7-2 advantage. SMU scored its final run in the bottom of the sixth when Bogie scored his second run of the game on a Loras throwing error.
Andrew Ruf (Prescott, Wis.) took the pitching loss, allowing three earned runs in 4 1/3 innings, while not walking a batter and striking out one.
Swanson got the Cardinals off and running in the fourth inning of Game 2, launching the team's first home run of the season, a solo shot to left field to give SMU a 1-0 advantage.
Ryan Archambault (Faribault, Minn.) gave the Cardinals some breathing room lacing a two-out, two-run single in the top of the sixth to push SMU's advantage to 3-0. The Duhawks plated their lone run in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI groundout.
The Cardinals, who improved to 4-3 overall, are back in action on Saturday, when they take on Elmhurst in a nonconference doubleheader in Phoenix, Ariz.
