Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  | GameDay Preview

NORTHFIELD, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University baseball team swept Gustavus 7-6 and 15-4 last Saturday, it snapped a string of 41 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheaders without an SMU sweep — dating back to a pair of one-run wins over Hamline on April 8, 2008.

To find the last time the Cardinals swept back-to-back conference twinbills, you'd have to go back even further — to April 26-27, 2003, when SMU beat Bethel 7-2 and 7-0, then followed that up a day later with 15-1 and 10-2 wins over Carleton.

And the Cardinals promptly put an end to that streak Wednesday, as SMU swept past St. Olaf, outscoring the Oles 11-8 in the opener, then holding on for a 5-3 win in the nightcap.

“We played pretty well,” understated SMU coach Nick Winecke, whose team moved to 4-6 in conference play and 15-13 overall — SMU's most wins since the Cardinals finished 17-14 in 2005. “We pieced together a good pitching performance in the first game, swung the bats pretty good and played well defensively.

“And in the second game, we got some timely hits when we needed them and made some big plays in the field — all-in-all, it was a good day.”

Make that a great day.

Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.) and Matt Tessmer (West St. Paul, Minn.) had the greatest of great days for the Cardinals in the opener, as Schlemmer launched a pair of home runs, going 2-for-2 with five RBIs, while Tessmer recorded his first collegiate three-hit — including his first home run as a Cardinal — finishing 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

And that was just the tip of the Cardinals' offensive iceberg, as Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.), Vince Lulic (Mendota Heights, Minn.), Paul LaNasa (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Danny Geraghty (Park Ridge, Ill.) all chipped in two hits.

In fact, eight of SMU's starting nine had at least one hit to account for SMU's 14 Game 1 hits.

SMU got off to a quick start, getting home runs from both Tessmer and Schlemmer en route to a four-run first inning. St. Olaf, however, rattled off seven unanswered runs — including five in the third inning — to take a 7-4 lead heading into the fifth.

The Cardinals erased the three-run deficit to knot the game at 7-7 with a three-run fifth inning, then took the lead for good with a second straight three-run inning in the sixth, before plating their final run in the seventh.

Sam Nord (Mendota Heights, Minn.), the third SMU pitcher, picked up his third win of the season, allowing one hit and one earned run over the final three innings.

The Cardinals picked up right where they left off in the nightcap, scoring in each of their first three at-bats to take a 4-0 advantage into the fifth. St. Olaf made things interesting with a single run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to make it a one-run game heading into the seventh.

A Zach Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh gave SMU some breathing room, and Tyler Krysiak (Bloomington, Minn.) picked up his team-leading fourth save — thanks in part to a clutch third-to-second-to-first game-ending double play.

LaNasa and Geraghty each had two hits to account for half of SMU's eight Game 2 hits, while Justin Kronebusch (Altura, Minn.) picked up the pitching win, going the first six innings, allowing three runs on six hits, before giving way to Krysiak in the seventh.

The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday, as they host Saint John's in a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader at Max Molock Field.