Box Score  | GameDay Preview

TUCSON, Ariz. — For six innings, the Saint Mary's University baseball team held Wartburg scoreless.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals and head coach Nick Winecke, Monday's season opener against the Knights was a nine-inning affair, and in those other three innings, Wartburg tagged SMU for 12 runs in handing Saint Mary's a 12-2 nonconference setback.

After a scoreless two innings, the Cardinals broke the ice in the bottom of the third, plating the game's first run on a Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) sacrifice fly.

The lead was short-lived, however, as Wartburg tagged SMU starter Teddy VanRanst (St. Paul, Minn.) for five runs in the top of the fourth, and added three runs off reliever Justin Kronebusch (Altura, Minn.) in the fifth to take an 8-0 advantage.

The Cardinals got one run back on the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Vince Lulic (Mendota Heights, Minn.), but that was all the offense they would muster, as four Wartburg pitchers held SMU to seven hits — six singles and a Gannon (Roselle Ill.) double.

Lulic and Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.) each had two hits for the Cardinals, who stranded 14 runners on base.

The Cardinals are right back in action on Monday, squaring off against Concordia-Chicago in a nine-inning game set to start at 1:30 p.m. CST.