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WINONA, Minn. — Nothing has come easy for the Saint Mary's University baseball team, so it should come as no surprise that earning their first post-season berth since 2002 isn't going to come easy, either.

In fact, when Carleton reliever Jackson Tears got pinch-hitter Max Ferguson to ground out and preserve the Knights' 7-3 Game 2 victory — the Cardinals instantly became the biggest Saint John's fans in the conference.

SMU, which opened Monday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Carleton with a 3-2 victory at Max Molock Field, closed out the conference season with a 10-10 record — and forced the Cardinals to get a little help in their conference-tournament push.

Enter Saint John's.

The Johnnies, who lost to Augsburg 2-1 in their first game Monday, gift-wrapped the conference's No. 4 seed and handed it to the Cardinals — collecting a 4-2 victory over the Auggies in the second game of their conference twinbill at the Metrodome.

“It's pretty special,” said coach Nick Winecke of the conference tournament berth. “These guys have worked so hard all season, it's great to see them get this kind of reward for their efforts.”

The Cardinals will open tournament play against regular-season champion and top-seeded St. Thomas on Friday at 3 p.m. at Veterans Field in Minnetonka, Minn. Saint John's and Bethel will square off in Friday's other opening-round game at 7 p.m.

Teddy VanRanst (St. Paul, Minn.) continued his stellar junior season, as the left-hander picked up his career-high sixth pitching win in the opener, allowing two runs on seven hits in six innings. Freshman Tyler Krysiak tied the school's single-season saves record, throwing a 1-2-3 seventh for his sixth save of the year.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in their first at-bat in the opener, getting an RBI single from Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.) and a run-scoring double from Curt Swanson (Woodbury, Minn.).

Carleton scored once in the second and once in the sixth to tie the game at 2-2, but a one-out Schlemmer double scored Pat Krieger (Mendota Heights, Minn.) with the game-winning run, and Krysiak shut the door in the seventh to preserve the win.

Schlemmer and Vince Lulic (Mendota Heights, Minn.) each had two hits for SMU, with Schlemmer driving in two runs and Lulic accounting for the Cardinals' other RBI.

It was the Knights who had the quick start in the nightcap, as Carleton scored twice in the top of the first and added five runs in the third to take a 7-0 lead. SMU chipped away at the lead — scoring once on a Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) double in the third and twice on RBI singles by Danny Geraghty (Park Ridge, Ill.) and Mike Feriancek (River Falls, Wis.) in the fourth — but that was as close as the Cardinals would get.

Feriancek, Gannon and Lulic all lhad two hits for the Cardinals, while Feriancek also drove in a pair of runs in the nightcap.

“I thought we played a very good first game, we just didn't get that type of performance in the second game,” Winecke said of Monday's showing vs. Carleton. “Carleton had one big inning — and that was the difference between sweep and a split.

“We had our chances (in the second game), we just couldn't get the big hit when we needed it,” said Winecke, whose team left the bases loaded in the fourth and stranded a pair of runners in both the fifth and sixth innings. “Nothing's really come easy for us all season — today was just another example of that.”