Concordia Box | College of New Jersey Box

CHANDLER, Arizona — Heading into Sunday's first two games of their spring trip, Saint Mary's University baseball coach Nick Winecke caution that his team needed to stay away from the big innings if they were going to be successful.

They did — for 15 of the 18 innings they played.

Unfortunately, in those other three innings, Concordia-Chicago sent 10 batters to the plate in a five-run second inning that propelled the Cougars to a 12-5 win, and The College of New Jersey batted through the order twice in putting up a pair of four-run innings en route to a 10-2 victory.

“Big innings killed us,” said Winecke. “Take away the big innings and it's two completely different games. Plus, we didn't answer back with any big innings of our own — and that really hurt us.

“We need to put up more zeroes (defensively) and put up more crooked numbers (offensively).”

Jon Schlemmer (DePere, Wis.) laced a lead-off single in the bottom of the third inning of SMU's opener against Concordia-Chicago for his first collegiate hit — and the Cardinals' first hit of the season. By the time Schlemmer delivered his third-inning single, however, the Cougars had already staring at a 7-0 deficit.

Jake Lechner (Shoreview, Minn.) proved to be SMU's offensive bright spot against Concordia, as the senior belted three hits — including seventh-inning, bases-loaded triple that sparked a four-run SMU seventh.

SMU's bats remained in their early season slumber against The College of New Jersey, as the Cardinals managed just six hits — two off the bat of Curt Swanson (Woodbury, Minn.). TCNJ, meanwhile, scattered 12 hits against three SMU pitchers, scoring four times in the second, two in the third and four more in the seventh.

“I thought our at-bats got better as the day went on,” Winecke said. “We'll got back at it and get better tomorrow.”

The Cardinals (0-2 overall) are back in action on Monday, taking on Concordia-Chicago in another nine-inning contest. First pitch is set for 9:30 a.m. MST.