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ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — Scoring runs has not been a problem for the Saint Mary's University baseball team this season.

In fact, the Cardinals entered Thursday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Bethel averaging more than six runs a game — and were coming off an 11-run outburst in an 11-7 victory over Saint John's Wednesday that earned SMU a conference split against the Johnnies.

That high-powered offensive attack was nowhere to be found in SMU's opener against Bethel, as the Cardinals were held to just two runs on six hits.

Thanks to the efforts of starting pitcher Teddy VanRanst (St. Paul, Minn.) and three Cardinal relievers, however, two runs was more than enough, as the quartet blanked the Royals on five hits in leading SMU to a 2-0 Game 1 victory.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the offensive power outage continued in Game 2 — and this time the SMU pitching staff couldn't bail them out — as Bethel scored three runs in the second and two more in the third in handing Saint Mary's a 5-1 setback.

SMU had a golden opportunity to get on the board in the third inning of Game 1, as Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.) led off the third with a single and moved all the way to third on a failed pick-off attempt, but that is where the freshman would remain, as BU pitcher Jake Hanzalik worked out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout back to the mound to end the inning.

The Cardinals finally broke the scoreless deadlock in the fourth. Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) and Kyle Servais (Westby, Wis.) drew one-out walks and Kevin Miley (St. Paul, Minn.) followed with a single to load the bases. Hanzalik then hit Vince Lulic (Mendota Heights, Minn.) with a pitch, scoring Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) with the game's first run.

Gannon and Servais also had a hand in the Cardinals' second run of the game in the sixth, as Gannon opened the inning with a double and Servais followed with an RBI double of his own to push the SMU lead to 2-0.

SMU, which finished with six hits — from six different players — rode the pitching arms of VanRanst, A.J. Redders (Middleton, Wis.), Sam Nord (Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Tyler Krysiak (Bloomington, Minn.) to the shutout win. VanRanst went the first 5 1/3 innings, scattering four hits en route to his first win of the season, with Redders and Nord each tossing one-third of an inning and Krysiak coming on to work a scoreless seventh in recording the save.

SMU didn't waste any time getting on the board in Game 2, as Paul LaNasa (Mahtomedi, Minn.) laced a one-out single and scored on an RBI single by Servais.

That, however, would be the extent of the Cardinals' offensive attack, as Bethel scored five unanswered runs — three in the second and two in the fourth — to earn the split of the conference doubleheader.

Servais continued to swing a hot bat for the Cardinals, going 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Doll also had two hits in three at-bats, as the duo accounted for four of SMU's seven hits in the second game.

Ben Johnson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) took the loss on the mound, giving up five runs — three of them earned — on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings.

The Cardinals (2-4 MIAC, 11-10 overall) are right back in action this weekend, as SMU hosts St. Olaf and Gustavus in back-to-back 1 p.m. conference doubleheaders at Max Molock Field beginning Saturday.