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TUCSON, Ariz. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team dodged a bullet in the first game of their nonconference doubleheader against Morningside Tuesday afternoon — as the Cardinals managed a 4-3 victory despite stranding seven runners on base.

Game 2, however, was a different story, as the Mustangs took advantage of two Cardinal errors — and banged out 17 hits — in handing SMU a 15-3 setback.

"It was one of those days," said SMU coach Nick Winecke. "We did just enough to come away with a win in the first game — despite leaving a ton of runners on base. And in the second game, we got off to a bad start — lost a couple of balls in the sun, which gave (Morningside) extra outs — and it just seemed to snowball from there.

"Give Morningside credit, they hit a ton of balls that found the alleys."

The Cardinals jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opener against the Mustangs, scoring a single run in the first and three more in the top of the sixth, before surrendering three runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it a one-run game.

Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.) went 2-for-4 with an RBI to pace the Cardinals' seven-hit Game 1 attack, while Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.), Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.), Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.), Drew Denning (St .Paul, Minn.) and Pat Krieger (Mendota Heights, Minn.) all had one hit.

Ben Johnson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) picked up the pitching win, going 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, while striking out five. A.J. Redders (Middleton, Wis.) tossed the final 1.1 innings, scattering two hits to earn the save.

It was the Mustangs who came out swinging in Game 2, as Morningside scored two runs in the first, six in the second, three in the third and four in the fifth to carve out a 15-0 lead. SMU managed a single run in the fifth and two more in the sixth, but it was too little, too late.

Zach Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) and Taylor Thelemann (Bloomington, Minn.) each had two hits to account for four of the Cardinals' six hits, while Gannon and Kevin Miley (St. Paul, Minn.) accounted for SMU's other two hits.

The Cardinals are now off until Thursday, when they square off against Concordia-Chicago in a nine-inning game in Tucson, Ariz.