WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team managed just six hits in the first game of its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Carleton Wednesday at Max Molock Field — and won.
The Cardinals banged out nine hits in the nightcap — and lost.
The difference? Execution.
“In the first game, we did a good job of cashing in on the opportunities we had — we got some big hits in big situations, but in Game 2, we just didn't throw the ball very well and it came back to haunt us,” said SMU coach
Nick Winecke, whose team rode the four-hit, complete-game pitching performance of
Brett Ferschweiler (Rochester, Minn.) to a 5-1 win in the opener, only to come up short in the nightcap, 7-1. “You've got to tip your caps to Carleton, they got some big hits that really helped them out (in the second game).”
The Cardinals scored all the runs they would need in their first at-bat in Game 1, as
Andrew Warren (Stillwater, Minn.) delivered a one-out single and
Ryan Archambault (Faribault, Minn.) added a two-run single to center to give SMU a 3-0 advantage.
SMU would pad its lead to 5-0 with single runs in the second and third — the first on a
Kyle Ryan (St. Paul, Minn.) single and the second on a
Jake Lechner (Shoreview, Minn.) RBI base hit — before the Knights finally got on the board in the sixth, foiling Ferschweiler's shutout bid when Grant Bowen launched a solo home run to left.
“I thought Brett pitched well,” said Winecke of his senior right-hander, who threw his second straight complete game. “I didn't think he had his best stuff (giving up five walks), but he did what he had to do and got the job done.”
The Knights got to Game 2 starter
Gary Seifert (Prescott, Wis.) early, scoring twice in the top fo the first inning, and, after SMU cut the gap to 2-1 on an Archambault RBI single in the bottom of the first, added single runs in the second and third, before breaking the game open with two runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth.
Archambault finished with four hits and three RBIs in the two games, going 1-for-3 in the opener and 3-for-4 in Game 2. Lechner added a 2-for-2 Game 1 effort, while Warren and
Chris Bogie (St. Paul, Minn.) each chipped in two hits in Game 2.
“It's nice to get that first (conference) win, but we also feel like we let another one get away from us,” said Winecke, whose team steps out of conference play on Friday, playing host to UW-La Crosse in a nine-inning contest. “If there's one thing about this team, it's that they are going to work their butts off and give you 100 percent all the time. We would have loved a split today, but we'll bounce back.”
