And the Cardinals worked that strategy to perfection in the opening game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Saint John's, as SMU — fueled by a four-run third inning — raced out to a 4-1 advantage and never looked back in beating the Johnnies 6-4 at Max Molock Field.

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In the nightcap, however, the Cardinals reverted to their old selves, falling behind 8-1 before cutting the gap to one — only to leave the tying run on second and the winning run on first in the bottom of the seventh in falling 8-7 in the nightcap.

“We've spent a lot of time trying to win games by coming from behind,” said Winecke, whose Cardinals did just that last Saturday, scoring four times in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat Augsburg 9-8. “It was nice to see us get off to a good start (in the first game) and play with the lead for a change.

“That was what we were looking for today — get out early and make (Saint John's) have to catch us,” Winecke added. “It worked in the first game, but we couldn't duplicate that in the second game.”

After giving up a solo run in the top of the second of the opener, the Cardinals' offense got to work — sparked by one swing of the bat from freshman Vince Lulic (Mendota Heights, Minn.).

Lulic led off the Cardinals' third with his first collegiate home run, and singles by Daniel Geraghty (Park Ridge, Ill.) and Jake Lechner (Shoreview, Minn.) — sandwiched around a walk to Kyle Ryan (St. Paul, Minn.) — loaded the bases with no one out. Zach Olberding (Maplewood, Minn.) and Curt Swanson (Woodbury, Minn.) followed with RBI singles, and, after Andrew Warren (Stillwater, Minn.) popped out and Ryan Archambault (Faribault, Minn.) struck out, Chris Bogie (St. Paul, Minn.) delivered SMU's sixth hit of the inning, scoring Lechner to give the Cardinals a 4-1 advantage.

Both teams plated a run in the fifth — SMU's on Bogie's second RBI single of the afternoon — before SJU made things interesting in the seventh, scoring one run and putting runners on first and third with two out. Cardinal pitcher Brett Ferschweiler (Rochester, Minn.), however, completed what he started, getting the Johnnies' Eric Smith to strike out to complete the complete-game eight-hitter.

Ryan, Swanson, Bogie and Lulic all finished with two hits for the Cardinals in Game 1, with Ryan also fueling the Cardinal defense, collecting one put out and seven assists in eight chances at shortstop.

The Johnnies scored the game's first five runs in the nightcap, scoring twice in the second, once in the third and twice more in the fourth. SMU got one back in the bottom of the fourth on Warren's RBI double, but the Johnnies pushed their advantage to seven, 8-1, with two runs in the top of the fifth.

Down, but far from out, the Cardinals battled back, erupting for five runs in the fifth ­— three coming on Swanson's team-leading third home run of the season — and another in the sixth to get within 8-7.

SMU threatened again in their final at-bat, as Warren singled and Archambault walked to give SMU runners on first and second with one out. Bogie laced a shot that SJU third baseman Max Forster snared and threw to second to force out pinch-runner Joe O'Neill (St. Paul, Minn.). Reliever Hayden Zimmerman then got Lulic to strikeout swinging to preserve the victory.

“You never like to see your team get down 8-1, but this team never stops battling — and they did that again today,” said Winecke, who got two hits from both Swanson and Warren in a nine-hit Game 2 offensive attack. “We put ourselves in position to tie or win the game (in the seventh), we just couldn't quite get the job done.

“I was proud of the way the guys played — (Saint John's) is tied for second in the conference and we played right with them for 14 innings.”

The Cardinals, who move to 4-8 in the MIAC and 11-20 overall with their second straight conference split, are back in action on Saturday, traveling to Hamline for a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Midway Stadium.