ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team kicks off its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schedule on Sunday, as the Cardinals travel to seventh-ranked St. Thomas for a conference doubleheader at UST's Koch Diamond. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.

The Matchup: Sunday, April 6, 2013 | 1 p.m.
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-0 MIAC | 9-6 Overall) at St. Thomas Tommies (2-0 MIAC | 14-4 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals have been off since last March 28, when they battled UW-Superior to a split in their nonconference doubleheader at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minn. SMU, behind a three-run home run by Kyle Servais (Westby, Wis.), won the opener 6-5, while the Yellowjackets took Game 2, 3-1. … St. Thomas kicked off its conference home schedule on Thursday, sweeping past Augsburg 5-4 and 6-0 at Koch Diamond in St. Paul, Minn.

SMU vs. St. Thomas — A Year Ago:
April 9, 2012: St. Thomas pitcher Bryce Gapinski outdueled SMU's Teddy VanRanst (St. Paul, Minn.) in the opener, as the Tommie right-hander limited the Cardinals to just four hits — while retiring the last 11 batters he faced — in a 3-0 UST victory. And in the nightcap, the Tommies used a two-run fourth inning to rally from a 3-2 deficit and hand SMU a 4-3 setback in St. Paul, Minn.
May 11, 2012: The Cardinals battled the high-powered Tommies — the tourney's No. 1 seed and the second-ranked team in the nation — to a 2-2 stalemate through the first nine innings. SMU then scored twice in the top of the 10th — the first on an RBI single by Paul La Nasa (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and the other on an RBI groundout by Danny Geraghty (Park Ridge, Ill.) — as Saint Mary's stunned heavily favored St. Thomas 4-2 in the first game of the three-day, double-elimination MIAC Tournament in Minnetonka, Minn.
May 12, 2012: SMU recorded its biggest win of the season with its 4-2, 10-inning victory over top-seeded St. Thomas in the opening round of the MIAC Tournament at Veteran's Stadium. When the two teams met again in a win-or-go-home elimination game, the Cardinals were poised to write another chapter in their Cinderella story. St. Thomas, however, had other ideas, as the Tommies — fueled by back-to-back three-run innings in the sixth and seventh — cruised to a 10-2 victory, ousting the Cardinals from post-season play.

Up Next:
The Cardinals are scheduled to return to conference play on Tuesday, traveling to Moorhead, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. MIAC doubleheader against Concordia. … St. Thomas is also on the road on Tuesday, heading to Collegeville, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. conference twinbill against Saint John's.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
With their 6-5 win, 3-1 loss to UW-Superior on March 28, the Cardinals have now split their last two nonconference doubleheaders. … SMU has won Game 1 in four of its five doubleheaders this season. … The Cardinals' last two wins have been by one run — SMU is now 4-1 in one-run games this season. … Kyle Servais (Westby, Wis.) launched a three-run home run — the first of his four-year collegiate career — to fuel SMU's Game 1 win over UW-Superior on March 28. … Servais' round-tripper was the sixth of the season for the Cardinals, who have also gotten two HRs from Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.) and one each from Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.), Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.) and Zach Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.). … Doll hit his first collegiate round-tripper against Illinois Institute of Technology on March 8. … The Cardinals head into Saturday's conference twinbill against St. Thomas hitting .322 as a team and boast 10 regulars who are hitting above .300. … David Berry (Apple Valley, Minn.) owns a team-leading .450 batting average and is also the team-leader with a .600 slugging percentage. … Gannon — who owns a .345 batting average — is the team's leader in at-bats (55), hits (19), triples (1), RBIs (14) and total bases (29). … Gannon posted his first collegiate six-RBI game against Illinois Institute of Technology on March 8. … Doll enters Thursday's DH vs. Viterbo as the team's hottest hitter. The freshman went 5-for-6 against UW-Superior on March 28 — including a 3-for-3 Game 2 effort — and has had two or more hits in each of the Cardinals' last three games. … Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.) belted his team-leading seventh double of the season in Game 2 against Wartburg on March 17. The junior has collected eight extra-base hits among his 13 hits this season and is second on the team with 11 RBIs. … Doll owns a team-best six multiple-hit games, one more than Wolfe, Paul LaNasa (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Vince Lulic (Mendota Heights, Minn.), while Schlemmer boasts a team-leading five multiple-RBI games. … Gannon has had a hit in 14 of the team's 15 games — including a season-opening 10-game hitting streak. … Gannon has also reached base safely in all 15 games this season. … Pat Krieger (Mendota Heights, Minn.) set a school record, walking five times in the Cardinals' 12-inning win over Simpson on March 6. … As a team, the Cardinals have swiped 35 bases on 42 attempts — led by Doll with nine steals in 10 tries. … Doll, Drew Denning (St. Paul, Minn.), Taylor Thelemann (Bloomington, Minn.), Chris Anderson (Madison, Wis.), A.J. Redders (Middleton, Wis.), Rayce Wadsworth (Lake Geneva, Wis.), Cale Pieczynski (Plover, Wis.), Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.) and Kevin Miley (St. Paul, Minn.) all recorded their first collegiate hits during SMU's 10-game spring trip. … The Cardinals have six pitchers who have thrown 10 or more innings through the season's first 15 contests — led by Matt Biagini (Maplewood, Minn.) with 18.0 IP. Scatassa, Teddy VanRanst (St. Paul, Minn.) and Justin Kronebusch (Altura, Minn.) are all second with 14.1 innings. … Sam Nord (Mendota Heights, Minn.) recorded his first collegiate save, working out of a first-and-third, one-out jam in the bottom of the seventh in SMU's 6-5 Game 1 win over UW-Superior. … A.J. Redders (Middleton, Wis.) and Tyler Krysiak (Bloomington, Minn.) both boast ERA's below 3.00, with Redders owning a 1.80 ERA in 10.0 innings, while Krysiak is close behind at 2.25 in a team-high six appearances — all in relief. … Sean Minder (Roseville, Minn.) recorded his first collegiate complete-game win against Illinois Institute of Technology on March 9. … Scatassa collected his first collegiate win in SMU's 9-4 win over Marian on March 10. … SMU has outscored its opponents 13-2 in the second inning and 24-6 in the sixth. … The Cardinals have been held to three runs or less in four of their six losses this season. … SMU is 7-0 when scoring in the first inning and 7-1 when scoring the game's first run. … The Cardinals are also 7-0 when outhitting their opponent and 7-0 when leading after the sixth inning. … The Cardinals have played three extra-inning games this season — and have won all three. SMU has now won its last nine extra-inning games, dating back to a 4-3 loss to Cornell on March 19, 2011. … Doll belted a solo home run in the top of the ninth to lift SMU to its 4-3 win over Cornell on March 25. It was the second time in three extra-inning games that Doll has had the game-winning hit — he also drilled a single in the bottom of the 11th to lift SMU past Iowa Wesleyan 4-3 on March 6. …  SMU's early season seven-game winning streak was the longest winning streak since the Cardinals won nine straight during the 2001 season. …

Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
The Tommies head into Saturday's conference doubleheader against Saint Mary's ranked No. 5 in the latest D3baseball.com national poll. … Ten of UST's first 16 games this season have come against teams that appeared in the 2012 NCAA Division III national tournament — Coe, St. Scholastica, UW-Whitewater, UW-La Crosse and UW-Stevens Point. … During their six-game spring trip to Florida, the Tommies put together a 5-1 record — with their lone loss a 3-2 decision to UW-Stevens Point on March 23. … Over the last 19 seasons, UST has built a 149-41 (.784) record in Florida spring trip games (.784). … The Tommies hit .388 as a team during its six-game spring trip and collected 65 runs, 78 hits and 27 walks. … With their sweep of Augsburg Thursday, the Tommies pushed their home winning streak to 28 straight. … Seven of UST's 11 runs vs. Augsburg were unearned. On the flip side, St. Thomas did not commit an error in 14 innings against the Auggies. … Dylan Thomas tossed a seven-hit, complete-game shutout in UST's Game 2 win over Augsburg Thursday. … The Tommies enter Saturday's DH against Saint Mary's hitting .322 as a team, led by Jack Hogan's .391 average. … Ben Podobinski (.364), Jon Kinsel (.358), J.D. Dorgan (.352), Tim Kuzniar (.323), Tyler Peterson (.316) and Dylan Thomas (.300) are also hitting above .300 for the Tommies. … Dorgan has scored a team-best 17 runs, while Podobinski leads the team with 24 hits — including two triples. … Peterson and Ryan Gerber have each belted three home runs to account for six of the team's nine round-trippers. … UST has six players with 10 or more RBIs, led by Peterson with 16 and Dorgan with 14. … Podobinski has recorded eight steals in nine attempts. … With his complete-game effort on Thursday, Thomas has now tossed a team-best 29.1 innings, while Steve Maher (20.0), Joey Toedt (12.0) and Mark Dominik (10.1) have also thrown more than 10 innings this season. … Thomas' Game 2 win Thursday was his team-leading fourth in four starts. … Dominik owns a team-leading 0.87 ERA in five appearances, while Eric Veglahn (1.04), Jacob Nelson (1.80), Maher (2.70) and Thomas (3.07) have helped the Tommie staff boast a 4.15 team ERA. … Thursday's 6-0 Game 2 win over Augsburg was the Tommies' second shutout win of the season — UST opened the year with a 3-0 win over Coe on Feb. 24.