WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University baseball coach
Nick Winecke knew that if his Cardinals were going to have a chance in the first game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against third-ranked and defending national champion St. Thomas,
Brett Ferschweiler (Rochester, Minn.) was going to have to pitch the game of his life.
And the senior right-hander did exactly that, retiring the first 13 batters he faced, while allowing just one-hit in going the distance against the high-powered Tommies Tuesday at Max Molock Field.
Unfortunately, as dominating as Ferschweiler was, three errors proved to be the Cardinals' downfall, as UST scored three unearned runs — one in the fifth and two in the sixth — in beating SMU 3-0.
The Tommies' high-powered offense wasn't about to be shut down in back-to-back games, however, as UST erupted for 21 Game 2 hits in handing the Cardinals a 14-1 setback.
Ferschweiler, who did not allow a base runner and struck out four in cruising through the first four innings, ran into trouble in the fifth. After Drew Cremisino grounded out to open the inning, UST sandwiched a pair of walks around an SMU error to load the bases. Ferschweiler then hit Brady Field to score Charles Bruchu, before getting John Bauer to hit into an inning-ending double play.
In the sixth, the Tommies again took advantage of SMU miscues to push their lead to 3-0. UST's Matt Olson opened the inning with a walk, and moved to second on a Ferschweiler throwing error that put runners on first and second with no one out. Olson then stole second and scored when Tayler Rahm spoiled Ferschweiler's no-hit bid with a single to center. The Cardinals' second error of the inning allowed Matt McQuillan to score and push the Tommies' lead to 3-0.
SMU threatened in the bottom of the sixth — collecting their only two hits against UST starter Kris Edwards — as
Vince Lulic (Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Daniel Geraghty (Chicago, Ill.) opened the inning with back-to-back singles and were moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by
Kyle Ryan (St. Paul, Minn.). Edwards then got
Jake Lechner (Shoreview, Minn.) to foul out and
Zach Olberding (Maplewood, Minn.) to ground out to third to end the threat.
Ferschweiler allowed just the one hit, while walking four and striking out four in posting his team-best fourth complete game. Edwards, meanwhile, improved to 6-1 for the Tommies, limiting the Cardinals to those two sixth-inning hits, while striking out three. Matt Schuld worked the seventh for the Tommies, earning his first save of the season by setting the Cardinals down in order in their final at-bat.
UST got to SMU starter
Jack Dwyer (Minnetonka, Minn.) early in the second game, scoring five runs off the Cardinal sophomore in the game's first two innings.
And, unfortunately for the four pitchers who followed Dwyer, the Tommies were just getting warmed up, as UST scored once in the fourth, three times in the fifth, once in the sixth, and four more times in the seventh en route to the lopsided victory.
SMU's offense, meanwhile, continued to struggled against UST pitching, managing just three hits in the nightcap, including an RBI double by
Chris Bogie (St. Paul, Minn.) in the bottom of the second.
The Cardinals, who fall to 4-12 in the MIAC and 11-24 overall, step out of conference play on Sunday, playing host to UW-Platteville in a 1 p.m. nine-inning nonconference game at Max Molock Field.
