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GameDay Preview
ST. PAUL, Minn. — After a change of venue and a postponement due to inclement weather, the Saint Mary's University baseball team finally got to play its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-opening doubleheader against seventh-ranked St. Thomas Sunday afternoon.
The Tommies, however, made coach
Nick Winecke and the Cardinals wish there could have been another postponement, as UST rode the complete-game pitching of Colin Wendinger to a 7-0 win in Game 1, then completed the conference sweep with an 11-2 victory in Game 2 at Koch Diamond.
“We just did not play well in any facet of the game,” said SMU coach
Nick Winecke, whose pitchers surrendered a combined 16 walks in 14 innings, while Cardinal batters struck out 18 times — including 12 times in Game 2. “We couldn't get anything going at all, and we couldn't prevent (St. Thomas) from having a big innings — (the Tommies) had way too many big innings.”
The Tommies got on the board first in the opener, scoring a single run in the third inning, before breaking the game open in the fifth — when UST sent nine batters to the plate, scoring four times to turn a 1-0 UST lead into a 5-0 advantage.
St. Thomas added two more insurance runs in the top of the seventh, and Wendinger capped off the complete-game effort by getting three straight outs after
Vince Lulic (Mendota Heights, Minn.) opened the bottom of the seventh with an infield single.
The Cardinals were held to six hits in the opener — all singles, and all by different players. UST, meanwhile, scored its seven runs on eight hits, while also taking advantage of three SMU errors
SMU (0-2 MIAC, 9-8 overall) made sure not to be shut out for a second straight game, scoring twice in their first at-bat.
Paul LaNasa (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Lulic led off with back-to-back walks, moved to second and third on a passed ball, and both scored on
Kevin Gannon's (Roselle, Ill.) single to right.
That, however, would be the extent of the Cardinals' offensive attack, as St. Thomas rattled off 11 straight runs — including six runs on just two hits in the third — to complete the sweep.
Mike Feriancek (River Falls, Wis.) went 2-for-3 to pace SMU's five-hit Game 2 attack, with LaNasa, Gannon and pinch-hitter
Drew Denning (St. Paul, Minn.) accounting for the Cardinals' other three hits.