Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa — It took the Saint Mary's University baseball team's bats 10 innings to heat up, but they finally did Saturday afternoon, as the Cardinals bounced back from a 4-3, 10-inning Game 1 loss to beat Cornell 5-4 and earn a split in their nonconference doubleheader Saturday afternoon.

“I was very happy with the way we played offensively,” said SMU coach Nick Winecke. “It doesn't show up that way in the box score, but we actually hit the ball very well in the first game — everything was either right at someone, or (Cornell) came up with a great defensive play.

“We swung the bats well in the second game, too, and, fortunately the guys were rewarded for their efforts.”

The Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in their first at-bat in the opener, as Curt Swanson (Woodbury, Minn.) delivered an RBI double and scored on a Jon Schlemmer (DePere, Wis.) single.

The Rams got one back in the bottom of the first, then tied the game with a solo run in the bottom of the third. A Schlemmer sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth gave SMU a 3-2 advantage, and again the Rams answered, scoring a solo run in the bottom of the fifth, before plating the game-winner on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th.

It was the Rams who scored first in Game 2, plating a solo run in the bottom of the second. SMU responded with two runs in the fourth, but Cornell again answered with three runs in fifth two take a 4-2 advantage. SMU cut the gap to 4-3 with a Luke Larson () RBI single in the sixth, then scored two runs in the top of the seventh — the game-winner on an RBI double by Swanon.

Swanson finished the day 4-for-7 with a pair of RBIs and three runs scored, while Gary Seifert (Prescott, Wis.) picked up the Game 2 pitching win, allowing three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out five.

“I would have loved to see us come in here and sweep two,” said Winecke, whose team moves to 3-8 overall. “But I was happy with the way we bounced back (after the Game 1 loss). I thought we played pretty well all the way around.”