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ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team gave league-leading Macalester all it could handle in the first game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader Saturday afternoon.

In fact, heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Cardinals boasted a 2-1 advantage.

Unfortunately, by the time SMU starter Andrew Ruf (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) got Andrew Gardner to ground out to second, the Scots had scored three times — erasing the Cardinals' one-run lead and propelling Macalester to a 5-3 Game 1 victory.

It was the three-run inning — two of them, to be exact — that did in the Cardinals in the nightcap, as Macalester scored three times in the first and three more in the fourth in completing the sweep with a 7-3 win.

“It was a day of heartbreakers,” said SMU coach Nick Winecke. “We had our chances, put ourselves in position (to win) in both games, we just couldn't catch a break.

“It's tough, because the guys played so well — we hung right with the top team in the conference from the first pitch to the final out.”

SMU got on the board first in the opener, recording the first of their three one-run innings in the top of the first on an RBI single by Chris Bogie (St. Paul, Minn.).

The Scots answered back in the bottom of the second with a solo run of their own, only to have the Cardinals regain the lead in the fourth on Bogie's second RBI single of the afternoon.

After Macalester took the lead for good with its three-run fifth, the Cardinals scored their final run in the top of the seventh, as Bogie completed his RBI trifecta with his third run-scoring single — and fourth hit — of the game to score Cody Pfennig (La Crosse, Wis.) from third.

That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as Macalester's Alex Ingram got Andrew Warren (Stillwater, Minn.) to fly out with the bases loaded to end the threat — and the game.

Bogie led the Cardinals' 12-hit Game 1 offensive attack with his 4-for-4 performance, while O'Neill and Luke Larson (Bloomington, Minn.) each chipped in two hits. Ruf suffered the pitching loss, allowing four runs on eight hits in five innings, while walking three and striking out three. John Henderson (Bloomington, Minn.) pitched the sixth, allowing one run on two hits.

The Scots took a page from the Cardinals' Game 1 book, scoring in their first at-bat, as Macalester scored three times in the bottom of the first inning, only to have SMU cut the deficit to one, 3-2, with a pair of runs in the top of the second.

Macalester, however, plated a single run in the third and three more in the fourth to push its advantage to 7-1.

“We had runners on base in almost every inning,” said Winecke, noting that SMU had the bases loaded in both the second and fourth innings in the second game, but came up empty both times. “We just couldn't get that timely hit when we needed it.”

The Scots kept Bogie from doing any damage with his bat in Game 2 — walking the Cardinal senior in two of his four plate appearances. Pfennig picked up the offensive slack, going 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, while Warren and Larson each added two hits as the trio accounted for seven of the team's eight hits.

SMU (2-14 MIAC, 9-25 overall) closes out its home schedule on Wednesday, hosting Bethel in a 2:30 p.m. MIAC doubleheader at Max Molock Field. It will also be Senior Day, as the Cardinals recognize their eight graduating seniors.