WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team returns home on Saturday, hosting Saint John's in an MIAC doubleheader on Strikeout Prostate Cancer Day at Max Molock Field. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-6 MIAC | 15-14 Overall)
vs. Saint John's Johnnies (7-3 MIAC | 19-9 Overall)

GameDay Live On The Web:
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Last Action:
The Cardinals picked up their second straight conference sweep on Wednesday, as SMU dropped St. Olaf 11-8 and 5-3 in Northfield, Minn. … Saint John's, meanwhile, jumped back into second place in the MIAC standings with a 4-2, 6-1 sweep of Hamline Wednesday in Collegeville, Minn.

SMU vs. Saint John's — Their Last Meeting:
April 21, 2011: Saint John's pitcher Hayden Zimmerman held the Cardinals without a hit in leading the Johnnies to a 3-0 win in the opening game of the team's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader. SMU banged out eight hits in the nightcap, but could not come up with the key hit when they needed in most in dropping Game 2, 5-4.

Up Next:
The Cardinals hit the road on Tuesday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. conference doubleheader at Macalester. … Saint John's, meanwhile, returns home to Collegeville, Minn., on Tuesday, hosting St. Olaf in a 2:30 p.m. MIAC twinbill.


Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
2012 Roster | 2012 Statistics | 2012 Schedule | 2012 Media Guide
Heading into Saturday's doubleheader against Saint John's, the Cardinals have played 25 of their first 29 games on the road. … The Cardinals have been on a streak-snapping run over the past week. SMU picked up its first conference sweep in 41 MIAC doubleheaders with their 7-6, 15-4 victories over Gustavus last Saturday, then notched their first back-to-back MIAC sweeps since 2003 with Wednesday's 11-8, 5-3 wins over St. Olaf. … SMU's sweep of Gustavus was its first over GAC since beating the Gusties 9-3 and 6-4 on April 6, 2005. The Cardinals' last sweep of St. Olaf, meanwhile, came on April 21, 2001, when SMU beat the Oles 7-1 and 2-1. … The Cardinals' 5-3 Game 2 win over St. Olaf was their 15th win of the season — their highest win total since finishing 17-14 in 2005. … The Cardinals launched three home runs in their 11-8 win over St. Olaf in the opener Wednesday — two by Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.) and the other by Matt Tessmer (West St. Paul, Minn.). It was the second two-homer game of the season for Schlemmer, while Tessmer's bomb was the first HR of his collegiate career. … Tessmer went 3-for-4 in the opener vs. St. Olaf for his first career three-hit game, while Schlemmer was 2-for-2 with two walks and 5 RBIs. It was the second 5-RBI game of the season for Schlemmer, who also drove in five runs in his first two-homer game of the season against Viterbo on April 5. … Paul LaNasa (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Danny Geraghty (Park Ridge, Ill.) led SMU's eight-hit Game 2 attack vs. St. Olaf with two hits each. … Fueled by his 4-for-7 performance vs. St. Olaf, Tessmer pushed his team-leading batting average to .410. He is one of 11 Cardinals hitting above .300. … As a team, the Cardinals enter Saturday's DH vs. Saint John's hitting .321. … Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) leads the team in at-bats (101), runs (21), hits (37), doubles (13), RBIs (27) and total bases (55). … Schlemmer owns the team lead in triples (4), home runs (4) and slugging percentage (.712). … Gannon and Zach Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) join Tessmer as Cardinals who have hit their first collegiate home runs this season. Gannon hit his first collegiate home run in Game 1 against Lewis & Clark on March 10, while Wolfe's first collegiate round-tripper came against Simpson on March 8. … Matt Feriancek (River Falls, Wis.) has stolen a team-leading 14 bases on 16 attempts this season. … The Cardinals have put together two lengthy hitting streaks this season. Geraghty hit safely in 11 straight games, while Andy Edholm (Hudson, Wis.) owned a nine-game streak. Tessmer currently owns the longest active hit streak at six straight. … Gannon has recorded a team-best 12 multiple-hit games — including four three-hit performances. Gannon and Vince Lulic (Mendota Heights, Minn.) boast a team-leading five multiple-RBI games. … LaNasa has recorded a team-high two four-hit games, while Schlemmer's five RBIs vs. Viterbo and St. Olaf are a single-game team-best. … Sam Nord (Mendota Heights, Minn.) earned the Game 1 pitching win vs. St. Olaf Wednesday, limiting the Oles to one run on one hit in three innings of relief. … Justin Kronebusch (Altura, Minn.) earned the Game 2 win vs. the Oles, going six innings, allowing three runs on six hits. … Teddy VanRanst (St. Paul, Minn.) tossed his second straight complete game — and team-leading third of the season — in Game 1 vs. Gustavus last Saturday. The junior left-hander has thrown six or more innings in each of his last three starts, and has not pitched fewer than four innings in any of his seven starts this season. … VanRanst earned his team-best fourth win of the season vs. Gustavus Saturday. … VanRanst, who has thrown a team-high 42 innings, boasts a 3.00, while Kronebusch is the team leader in appearances (13) and strikeouts (24). … The Cardinals boast six pitchers — Nord, Sean Minder (Maplewood, Minn.), Tyler Krysiak (Bloomington, Minn.), Pat Regan (Mound, Minn.), Jake Merkle (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Will DeBruin (Neenah, Wis.) — to notch their first collegiate pitching wins this season. … Krysiak leads the team with four saves and is just two saves shy of the single-season record, held by Eric Van Brocklin. … The Cardinals boast three pitchers with ERAs below 4.00 — VanRanst (3.00), Krysiak (3.86) and Geraghty (3.86). … Eight of SMU's 12 losses this season have been by one run. … As a team, the Cardinals have plated 176 runs in 29 games this season — including a season-high 15 runs in their 15-4 Game 2 win over Gustavus on April 14. … The Cardinals' 1-0, 14-inning victory over UW-Oshkosh on March 25 was their longest game since beating Christian Brothers University 6-5 in 14 innings on March 30, 1999. … The 1-0 win over UW-Oshkosh was also SMU's first shutout victory since blanking Mayville State 1-0 to open the 2010 season. … SMU has played two extra-inning games this season, having also dispatched of Lewis & Clark 14-13 in 10 innings on March 10. … With their 9-2, 5-2 victories over NCAA Division II Northern State on March 4, the Cardinals opened the season with a sweep for the first time since taking two from Valley City State to kick off the 2005 season.

Saint John's Johnnies News and Notes:
2012 Roster | 2012 Statistics | 2012 Schedule
With their sweep of Hamline, the Johnnies come into Saturday's DH at Saint Mary's having won three of their last four and eight of their last 11. … SJU's two wins over Hamline marked the sixth doubleheader sweep of the season for the Johnnies, who have only been swept once this season — falling 3-1 and 5-0 to league-leading St. Thomas on April 10. … Connor Cline had a busy afternoon against Hamline Wednesday, going 4-for-7 from the plate, while also getting the complete-game pitching win in SJU's 6-1 Game 2 win. … Hayden Zimmerman picked up his fourth win of the year in the opener vs. Hamline Wednesday, allowing two runs on three hits with four strikeouts. Zimmerman, who improved to 4-2, now boasts a 2.30 ERA and a .202 opponent batting average in 47 innings pitched. … Joey Long threw a scoreless seventh in Game 1 vs. the Pipers to tally his sixth save of the season. … Cline — who is 5-3 with a 3.14 ERA — leads the team with 45 strikeouts, while Zimmerman is second with 40. … Brett Becker is hitting a team-best .391. He is one of seven Johnnies batting above .300 this season. … Max Forster enters Saturday's DH at Saint Mary's leading the team in at-bats (89), runs (17), hits (28), doubles (7), triples (3), total bases (47) and slugging percentage (.528). … Luke Larson boasts a team-best 20 RBIs, while Forster and Dylan Graves share the team lead with two home runs each. … Forster has compiled a team-leading eight multiple-hit games, while Cline and Forster share the team lead with four multiple-RBI games each. … Aaron Pfaff has stolen a team-best six bases in seven attempts. … The Johnnies have outscored their opponents 13-5 in the first inning and are 6-1 when scoring in their first at-bat. … SJU has scored first in 15 of its 19 wins. … The Johnnies have held their opponents to five runs or less in 24 of their 28 games. … SJU is 16-1 when leading after the sixth inning. … Saint John's has played three extra-inning games this season, going 2-1 — including a 12-inning, 7-6 marathon win over Concordia on April 7.