LA CROSSE, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team is back on the diamond for its second nonconference doubleheader in three days, as SMU squares off against Viterbo at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (9-10 Overall)
at Viterbo V-Hawks (4-18 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals and UW-Stout each recorded 9-4 victories in the teams' nonconference doubleheader Tuesday, with the Blue Devils winning the opener, while SMU took Game 2. … Viterbo, meanwhile, was looking to snap a two-game losing streak when it traveled to Forest City, Iowa, for a conference doubleheader against Waldorf on Wednesday.

SMU vs. Viterbo — Their Last Meeting:
April 1, 2010: SMU committed four errors and managed just four hits in dropping a 4-2 decision to Viterbo in the first game, then equaled that offensive output — in both hits and runs — in falling 3-2 in the second game in La Crosse, Wis.

Up Next:
The Cardinals return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 1 p.m. showdown against seventh-ranked St. Thomas. … Viterbo, meanwhile, is off until Monday, when the V-Hawks host Waldorf in a 2 p.m. game in La Crosse, Wis.

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
2012 Roster | 2012 Statistics | 2012 Schedule | 2012 Media Guide
Thursday's doubleheader against Viterbo is the second of three road doubleheaders in a span of five days for the Cardinals, who are back on the road on Saturday at St. Thomas, before returning home to host Concordia next Tuesday. … When SMU returns home on April 10 to face the Cobbers, the Cardinals will have played 21 of their first 23 games on the road. … The Cardinals' 9-4 Game 2 win over UW-Stout Tuesday snapped their season-high five-game losing streak. … SMU's nine runs Tuesday marked the highest offensive output since plating a season-high 14 runs in a 14-13, 10-inning win over Lewis & Clark on March 10. … SMU has now scored nine or more runs five times this season. … Tuesday's split vs. UW-Stout is the sixth doubleheader split of the season for the Cardinals. … SMU has dropped the opening game in its last five doubleheaders — and six times in its seven doubleheaders this season. … Vince Lulic (Mendota Heights, Minn.) went 5-for-8 against the Blue Devils Tuesday, including a 3-for-4, 4-RBI effort in the Game 2 win. … Lulic's three Game 2 hits equaled his single-season career high, a feat he has now accomplished four times. … Mike Feriancek (River Falls, Wis.) was 3-for-4 in the opener Tuesday — the second time this season he has had three hits in a game — and finished with four hits in seven at-bats in the doubleheader. … Pat Krieger (Mendota Heights, Minn.) is hitting a team-best .462 and is one of 11 Cardinals hitting above .300. … Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) leads the team in at-bats (71), runs (15), hits (27), doubles (10), RBIs (17) and total bases (42). … Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.) has collected seven extra-base hits — including three doubles and a team-best four triples — among his 16 hits this season. … Zach Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) has 15 hits this season, six for extra bases — three doubles, two triples and a home run among his 14 hits. … Gannon and Wolfe have accounted for SMU's two 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. … Andy Edholm (Hudson, Wis.) has hit safely in eight straight games, three games shy of Danny Geraghty's (Park Ridge, Ill.) season-best 11-game streak set earlier this season. … Geraghty had his streak of reaching base safely snapped at 13 when he was held off the base paths in Tuesday's opener vs. UW-Stout. … Gannon has recorded a team-best nine multiple-hit games — including three three-hit performances — while Lulic owns a team-leading four multiple-RBI games. … Paul LaNasa (Mahtomedi, Minn.) recorded the first four-hit game of his collegiate career, going 4-for-5 against UW-Oshkosh on March 25. … Justin Kronebusch (Altura, Minn.) picked up his first pitching win — in his first start of the season — vs. UW-Stout Tuesday, allowing two runs on three hits, while striking out four, in five innings. … Kronebush and Teddy VanRanst (St. Paul, Minn.) share the team lead in innings pithed at 27.0. … VanRanst shares the team lead in wins (2) with Sam Nord (Mendota Heights, Minn.), while also leading the team in ERA (3.00) and complete games (1). … Kronebusch has made a team-high 10 appearances, posting a 4.00 ERA and a team-high 19 strikeouts. … Tyler Krysiak (Bloomington, Minn.) — the team's saves leader with three — picked up his first collegiate pitching win vs. UW-Oshkosh on March 25, going the final two innings. He struck out three and surrendered just two hits. … The Cardinals boast three pitchers with ERAs below 4.00 — VanRanst (3.00), Krysiak (3.68) and Danny Geraghty (Chicago, Ill.). … As a staff, the Cardinals' pitchers have compiled a 5.35 ERA during their first 19 games. … Five of the Cardinals' nine victories this season have come from pitchers recording their first collegiate pitching wins — Nord,  Krysiak, Pat Regan (Mound, Minn.), Jake Merkle (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Will DeBruin (Neenah, Wis.). … Krysiak collected his first collegiate save in SMU's season-opening win over Northern State on March 4, then followed that up with saves against Benedictine University at Springfield on March 5 and Simpson on March 8. … Krysiak's three saves are three shy of the single-season saves record, held by Eric Van Brocklin. … SMU's 4-3 Game 1 loss to Bethel last Saturday marked the seventh one-run loss among the Cardinals' nine setbacks this season. … SMU's Game 2 loss to Luther on March 27 marked the only time in 10 games that the Cardinals have lost when outhitting their opponent. … As a team, the Cardinals have plated 109 runs in 19 games this season — including a season-high 14 in a 14-13, 10-inning victory over Lewis & Clark on March 10. … 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 now played two extra-inning games this season, having also dispatched of Lewis & Clark 14-13 in 10 innings on March 10. …SMU's 14 runs in that 10-inning win over Lewis & Clark was the Cardinals' highest offensive output since plating 14 in a 14-1 win over Finlandia on April 8, 2011. … 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.

Viterbo V-Hawks News and Notes:
2012 Roster | 2012 Statistics | 2012 Schedule
The V-Hawks entered Wednesday's games against Waldorf having dropped two straight and five of their last six. … Viterbo has not won back-to-back games since opening the season with a 10-0 win over Ozark Christian College and a 4-0 win over Culver-Stockton College. … Thursday's nonconference doubleheader against Saint Mary's is just the second home date of the season for the V-Hawks, who have played 23 of their first 24 games this season on the road. … After a slow start, Blake Shepherd has been hot as of late — the junior hit .619 over seven games last week — and now leads the team with a .329 batting average. … Shepherd, the V-Hawks' lone returning all-conference performer from a year ago, also leads the team in at-bats (70), runs (12), hits (23), doubles (5), total bases (35) and slugging percentage (.500). … Along with his offensive prowess, Shepherd also collected his first pitching win of the season last Saturday, tossing a complete game in Viterbo's 9-4 win over St. Ambrose on March 31. … Chris Dunn has been Viterbo's top pitcher thus far this season, compiling a 2-5 record in eight appearances. Dunn has hurled 43.2 innings, striking out a team-best 40 batters and holding opponents to a .234 batting average. … Viterbo has been held to two runs or less 12 times this season (0-12). … The V-Hawks are still looking for their first win (0-16) when their opponent scores first. … Saint Mary's will be the second Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponent for the V-Hawks, who were swept by Augsburg (4-3, 5-1) in a nonconference doubleheader on March 29 in the Metrodome. … Head coach Chad Miller is in his seventh season and sits atop the Viterbo all-time wins category with 151 wins.