Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  | GameDay Preview

ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University kicked off its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season with back-to-back 13-run efforts in blowing past Augsburg 13-3 and 13-9 last Thursday.

Tuesday afternoon, the Cardinals picked up right where they left off.

SMU erupted for six second-inning runs — fueled by Alex Raske's (Chicago, Ill.) grand slam home run — and cruised to a 10-0, five-inning win in the opener.

And, just like last Thursday's back-to-back 13-run efforts against Augsburg, the Cardinals' matched their Game 1 offensive output vs. the Royals, recording its second 10-run effort — thanks in large part to a seven-run seventh — to complete the sweep with a 10-5 win in the nightcap.

Nat Boissiere (Plymouth, Minn.) — the reigning MIAC Athlete of the Week after going 7-for-9 with 5 RBIs in SMU's conference-opening sweep over Augsburg last Thursday — showed no signs of cooling off, as the freshman belted a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the first inning to get the Cardinals off to a 2-0 lead in the opener.

And the Cardinals were just getting warmed up.

SMU added six more runs in the second inning — all with two outs — to push the advantage to 8-0. Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) and Boissiere plated the Cardinals' first two runs of the second with bases-loaded walks, and followed by Raske delivering her first collegiate grand slam home run to cap the six-run second.

The Cardinals added single run in the third and fourth — the first on a Bethel error and the second on wild pitch — to ice the victory.

Raske and Carter sparked SMU's seven-hit Game 1 attack with two hits each, while Raske finished with four RBIs and Boissiere drove in three. Kayla Peterson (Lewiston, Minn.) earned the pitching win, blanking the Royals on two hits in four innings, with Carter throwing a hitless fifth.

Bethel got on the board first in the nightcap — and maintained its 1-0 lead through three frames — before SMU finally got on the board with a pair of runs in the fourth. With runners on second and third and one out, Raske delivered a run-scoring single and Anna Ramboldt (Goodhue, Minn.) followed with an RBI double. The Royals worked out of the inning without any further damage, getting Mel Hamilton (Homewood, Ill.) to line into a short-to-third double play.

The Royals knotted the game at 2-2 on a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth, and, after Boissiere's sacrifice fly gave SMU a brief 3-2 advantage, BU scored three times in the bottom of the sixth to take a 5-3 lead into the seventh.

And what a seventh it proved to be.

SMU loaded the bases with no one out. Hailey Ohl (Bloomington, Minn.) flew out to right for the first out, but Kristen Thelen (Rochester, Minn.) and Carter put together RBI singles — Carter's with two outs — to pull the Cardinals even, 5-5. By the time the Royals got Hamilton to strike out for the third out of the inning, SMU had added five more runs to put the game out of reach, 10-5.

Boissiere, Raske, Ramboldt and Julianne Bartosz (Mokena, Ill.) all had two hits to account for eight of SMU's 10 Game 2 hits, while Boissiere had three RBIs, and Raske and Ramboldt each chipped in two.

The Cardinals, who improve to 4-0 in the MIAC and 11-4 overall, were scheduled to host Hamline on Thursday, but the game has been postponed due to poor field conditions, meaning SMU's next scheduled game is Saturday in Moorhead, Minn., against Concordia.