LA CROSSE, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team returned from a six-day, seven-game trip to Phoenix, Ariz., Wednesday afternoon, and, unfortunately for coach
Nick Winecke, the Cardinals had a case of jet lag in its nonconference doubleheader against Viterbo Thursday.
SMU committed four errors and managed just four hits in dropping a 4-2 decision in the first game, then equaled that offensive output — in both hits and runs — in falling 3-2 in the second game.
“We just couldn't get the timely hits when we needed them,” said Winecke, whose team fell to 6-10 overall with the losses. “Our pitchers did a great job — we got complete game efforts from both
Brett Ferschweiler (Rochester, Minn.) and
Gary Seifert (Prescott, Wis.), but we couldn't give them the offensive support they needed.”
Ferschweiler tossed his first collegiate complete game, scattering six hits and just two earned runs, while not walking a batter and striking out three in the opener, while Seifert surrendered three earned runs on 11 hits and did not walk a batter en route to his first complete game.
“In Arizona, our offense seemed to heat up, but we weren't getting the pitching performances we needed,” said Winecke. “And today, it was the exact opposite — our pitchers were outstanding, and our offense just wasn't there.”
The Cardinals got on the board first in Game 1, getting an RBI single by
Curt Swanson (Woodbury, Minn.) in the top of the first inning. By the time SMU plated its second run in the top of the sixth, however, it was too late, as the V-Hawks put together a pair of two-run innings in the third and fourth innings to ice the win.
Viterbo scored all the runs it would need in the bottom of the first, as the V-Hawks tagged Seifert for three runs on five hits in their first at-bat. Daniel Geraghty (Chicago, Ill.) drove in SMU's first run with an RBI single in the top of the second, and Swanson delivered his second RBI single in as many games in the third inning to account for SMU's two runs.
SMU's four hits in each game came from four different players, with Swanson and
Joe O'Neil (St. Paul, Minn.) both collecting one hit in each game. Swanson finished 2-for-6 with a pair of RBIs to lead the Cardinals' offensive attack in the doubleheader.
The Cardinals open Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Satuday, when they travel to Northfield, Minn., for a conference doubleheader against St. Olaf. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
