WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team is back in action Thursday, returning home to host Concordia in a 3:30 p.m. MIAC doubleheader at the SMU Field.



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-2 MIAC | 10-6 Overall)
vs. Concordia Cobbers (3-1 MIAC | 5-12 Overall)

GameDay Live On The Web:
Live Stats | GameDay Program

Last Action:
The Cardinals erupted for 18 runs against Hamline Tuesday, as SMU rolled to 9-1 and 9-0, five-inning victories over the Pipers in St. Paul, Minn. … Concordia, meanwhile, has been off since Saturday, when the Cobbers swept Carleton 7-1, 7-4 in a conference doubleheader in Moorhead, Minn.

SMU vs. Concordia — Their Last Meeting:
April 17, 2012: The Cardinals sent 16 batters to the plate in their first at-bat, scoring 10 times in cruising to a 14-1, five-inning victory in the opener at the SMU Field. Unfortunately, SMU wasn't nearly as efficient in Game 2 — offensively or defensively — as the Cardinals surrendered three unearned runs in the first inning and could not manufacture enough runs with their 11 hits, as the Cobbers earned a split with a 5-4 victory.

Up Next:
The Cardinals are off until next Wednesday, when they kick off a six-games-in-four-days stretch by traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 3:30 p.m. MIAC doubleheader against St. Thomas. SMU will then return home for two nonconference games vs. Luther on Thursday, then close out the week at Carleton for two games on Saturday. … Concordia, meanwhile, is right back in action on Friday, traveling to St. Peter, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader against Gustavus.

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
2012 Roster | 2012 Statistics | 2012 Schedule | 2012 Media Guide
After splitting their first two conference doubleheaders, the Cardinals notched their first MIAC sweep Tuesday with their 9-1 and 9-0 victories over Hamline. … The Cardinals enter Thursday's showdown with Concordia having won six of their last eight and eight of their last 11. … After delivering her first collegiate home run in the opener against Bethel last Saturday, Alex Raske (Chicago, Ill.) belted career HR No. 2 in Game 1 vs. Hamline Tuesday. … Raske, who went 4-for-4 with 3 RBIs in SMU's 9-2 Game 1 win over Bethel last Saturday, went 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs in the opener vs. Hamline Tuesday. … Raske finished Tuesday's DH vs. the Pipers 4-for-6 with 5 RBIs. … Hailey Ohl (Bloomington, Minn.) and Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.) each chipped in two hits in the opener vs. Hamline Tuesday, while Kristen Thelen (Rochester, Minn.), Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) and Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) added two Game 2 hits. … SMU has now hit four home runs in its last six games — with three being collegiate firsts. Along with Raske's two HRs, Olson and Melanie Hamilton (Homewood, Ill.) have also belted their first HRs as a Cardinal this season. … Raske enters Thursday's DH vs. Concordia with a team-leading .456 batting average, while also leading the team in at-bats (57), ,runs (20), hits (26), doubles (5), home runs (2), total bases (37) and slugging percentage (.649). … Raske is one of six players hitting above .300 — Carter (.426), Olson (.423), Ohl (.375), Thelen (.372) and Anna Ramboldt (Goodhue, Minn. / .306) are the other five. … Carter leads the team in RBIs (18), while sharing the team lead in doubles with Raske. … Olson is the only Cardinal regular to not have been walked this season. … Raske and Carter share the team lead in multiple-hit games with eight each — one more than Ohl — while Carter has also recorded a team-best six multiple-RBI games. … Stenseth had her team- and season-best hitting streak snapped at seven with an 0-for-3 Game 1 against Hamline Tuesday. … Kayla Peterson (Lewiston, Minn.) picked up her team-leading eighth pitching win of the season Tuesday vs. Hamline, allowing one run on six hits, while striking out three Game 1 batters. … Carter was the winning pitcher in Game 2 vs. Hamline, scattering three hits in three innings of scoreless relief. … Peterson has been the workhorse on the mound for the Cardinals, throwing 88.0 of the team's 102.2 innings. … Peterson is 8-5 with a 4.60 ERA, tossing seven complete games and one shutout. She has also struck out 30 batters. … SMU has outscored its opponents 100-73 — including a 39-16 edge through the game's first two innings. … The Cardinals scored a season-high 12 runs in a 12-3, Game 1 win over Lebanon Valley on March 6. … SMU is 3-0 in one-run games this season. … The Cardinals are 7-1 when outhitting their opponent — their only blemish last Saturday's 9-5 Game 2 loss to Bethel. … SMU's 7-6, nine-inning win over Elizabethtown on March 10 was the Cardinals' longest game since beating Augsburg 5-4 in 10 innings of the second game of their MIAC doubleheader on April 13. … SMU's 7-6 victory over Emerson on March 9 was the 100th career collegiate coaching win for Cardinal coach Jen Miller.

Concordia Cobbers News and Notes:
2012 Roster | 2012 Statistics | 2012 Schedule
After opening the season with just two wins in their first 14 games, the Cobbers have now won three straight and are in third place in the MIAC standings, just one game behind league-leaders St. Thomas and Gustavus. … Paige Beseman swung the biggest stick for the Cobbers in their 7-1, 7-4 sweep of Carleton last Saturday, belting her first two collegiate home runs. Beseman laced a two-run homer in the first game, then capped CC's seven-run rally with a game-winning, fifth-inning grand slam in the nightcap. … Beseman finished Saturday's DH vs. Carleton going 3-for-6 with six RBIs. … Kaia Sele enters Thursday's doubleheader at Saint Mary's as the MIAC's reigning player of the week, after hitting .677 (10-for-15) and had a slugging percentage of 1.20, while not make an error in 39 chances at first base in helping Concordia to a 3-1 record last week. … Sele, who became the first CC player to be named MIAC Player of the Week since the 1997 season, started her outstanding week by going 5-for-8 against St. Olaf — with all five hits going for extra bases. She had a home run and four doubles and drove in three runs. Sele then backed up her mid-week performance by going 5-for-7 against Carleton. … Fueled by her four-game offensive explosion, Sele boasts a team-leading .463 batting average, while also leading the team in hits (25), runs (11), doubles (7), RBI (15), total bases (35) and on-base percentage (.525). … Kelsey Jones and MacKenzie Weather have shared the pitching duties this season, with Jones going 3-8 with a 5.97 ERA in 69.1 winnings, while Weather is 2-4 and owns a 6.48 ERA in 41.2 innings. … Jones picked up the win in both games vs. Carleton last Saturday, scattering six hits and limiting the Knights to one run in the opener, then blanking the Knights on two hits over the final five innings in relief in the nightcap. … After giving up two hits in the first inning of Game 1, Jones retired 29 of the final 37 batters she faced and did not give up an extra-base hit. … Jones has struck out a team-best 35 batters, while Weather has fanned 29. … Concordia has been outscored 31-13 in the first two innings combined, but have outscored its opponents 26-17 in the third and fourth innings combined. … Five of Concordia's 12 losses have been by one run. … CC has scored five or more runs in three of its five wins — including a season-high nine runs in a 9-7 win over Bethel on March 10th in the Rochester (Minn.) Dome.