ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team returns to action on Tuesday, as the Cardinals travel to nationally ranked St. Thomas for a 2:30 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at Koch Diamond.
 
The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-2 MIAC | 7-14 Overall) at #14 St. Thomas Tommies (6-0 MIAC | 17-5 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
Live Stats | GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
The Cardinals scored just two runs in their MIAC doubleheader against Gustavus Saturday afternoon — but two runs was enough to earn SMU a split. The Cardinals netted the game's only run in the top of the 11th inning to beat GAC 1-0 in the opener, only to fall 2-1 in the nightcap in St. Peter, Minn. … St. Thomas stepped out of conference play to earn a pair of wins, as UST dropped UW-Stout 9-4 and 10-7 in St. Paul, Minn.
 
SMU vs. St. Thomas — A Year Ago:
April 7, 2013: After a change of venue and a postponement due to inclement weather, SMU finally got to play its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-opening doubleheader against seventh-ranked St. Thomas. 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 in St. Paul, Minn.
 
Up Next:
The Cardinals are right back on the field on Wednesday, as SMU hosts Carleton in a 2:30 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at Max Molock Field. … St. Thomas returns home to Koch Diamond in St. Paul, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. conference twinbill against Bethel on Wednesday.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
After four straight home games — back-to-back doubleheaders against Saint John's and Cornell (Iowa) — SMU will play four of its next six contests on the road. … The Cardinals' 1-0 win over Gustavus last Saturday snapped their three-game losing streak. … SMU's Game 1 win over the Gusties was its second shutout victory of the season — the Cardinals also blanked Hamline 6-0 on April 2. … Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) accounted for four of SMU's 11 hits in the opener vs. Gustavus last Saturday. … Buerkle was held without a hit in Game 2 — going 0-for-2 with a walk — snapping the freshman's 20-game season-opening hitting streak. … With his Game 2 walk, Buerkle did extend his streak of reaching base safely to 21 straight. … Buerkle's 20-game hit streak was SMU's longest since Brady Knudsen hit safely in 21 straight games during the 2008 season. … With his four hits vs. Gustavus, Buerkle pushed his team-leading batting average to .386. The freshman also leads or shares the team lead in hits (27), RBIs (17) and slugging percentage (.557). … Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis. / .329) is the team-leader in at-bats (83), hits (27), doubles (9), total bases (38) and stolen bases (11). … Buerkle and Doll share the team lead in runs (15) and triples (2). … Buerkle's 4-for-5 showing against Gustavus in the opener Saturday was SMU's fourth four-hit game of the season. Kevin Miley (St. Paul, Minn.), Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.), Pat Krieger (Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.) have also put together four-hit single-game performances this season. It was the first collegiate four-hit game for all five. … Miley launched his first collegiate HR in Game 2 against Hamline on April 2. … Zach Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) owns the Cardinals' other home run this season, a three-run shot against Concordia-Chicago on March 6. … Doll leads the team with nine multiple-hit games this season. … Buerkle is the team's leader in multiple-RBI games with six. … Doll and Gannon are the only two Cardinals to have started all 20 games this season. … Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.) tossed seven scoreless inning in a no-decision against Gustavus Saturday, while Ben Dobosenski (Westmont, Ill.) was the hard-luck loser in Game 2, tossing a complete-game eight-hitter. … The complete game was the first of Dobosenski's collegiate career. … Scatassa picked up his first pitching win of the season against Saint John's on April 6, going 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits. … Ben Johnson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) recorded his team-leading second win of the season, tossing 5 1/3 innings of five-hit shutout ball against Hamline on April 2. … Scatassa (1-2, 4.40 ERA) has thrown a team-leading 28 2/3 innings, while Johnson (2-1, 4.07 ERA) and Dobosenski (1-4, 7.77 ERA) have each logged 24 1/3 innings. … Scatassa is the team's strikeout leader with 23, six more than Johnson. … Johnson, Dobosenski and Chris Bartosz (Woodridge, Ill.) all recorded their first collegiate pitching wins during SMU's spring trip to Tucson, Ariz. … The Cardinals have scored four or more runs in 14 of their 21 games. … SMU scored a season-high 10 runs in its 10-2 Game 1 win over St. Olaf on March 7. … The Cardinals have scored first in six of their seven wins. … SMU is 6-0 when leading after the sixth inning. … The Cardinals have played six doubleheaders this season — splitting five of them. SMU won the opener in splits vs. Morningside, St. Olaf, Saint John's and Gustavus, while rallying from a 9-3 Game 1 loss to Bethany Lutheran for a 7-2, split-clinching win.
 
Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
Heading into Tuesday's games against Saint Mary's, the Tommies have played games in four different states this season. UST opened with four games in Oklahoma, played four more games in Arizona and had five contests in Florida before returning home to Minnesota for its last nine games. … The Tommies — riding an eight-game winning streak — are currently ranked No. 14 in this week's D3baseball.com Top 25 poll. … The Tommies are batting .324 as a team and are averaging seven runs, 10 hits and four walks a game. … UST boasts two players — Tim Kuzniar (.486) and Tyler Peterson (.424) — who are hitting above .400. … Ben Podobinski, one of three Tommies named D3baseball.com Preseason All-American, also leads the team in at-bats (87), runs (26), hits (34), triples (5), total bases (49) and stolen bases (18). … Peterson has clubbed three of the team's six home runs this season, while also leading the team in RBIs (22) and slugging percentage (.672). … Three Tommies are in the chase to reach 200 career hits, a feat accomplished by only nine conference players. Kuzniar has 184 hits in 151 games; J.D. Dorgan has 166 hits in 152 games; and Podobinski has 152 hits in 105 games over just three seasons. … UST pitchers have allowed just eight earned runs in their last five conference outings, to lower their ERA to 2.49 in conference play. … UST's bullpen has allowed just one earned run over its last 22 innings. … Tommy Daczyk has tossed a team-leading 28 1/3 innings and is one of four UST hurlers to log more than 20 innings this season. … Danczyk, Eric Veglahn and Colin Wendinger have all recorded three wins this season. … Veglahn is 3-0 with a 1.92 ERA in five appearances, while Danczyk is 3-1 with a 1.93 ERA and two saves in a team-high eight appearances. … In their first six MIAC games, Tommie starting infielders Tyler Peterson, Cory Quinlan, Brady Johnson and Jack Hogan have combined for no errors in 109 defensive chances. … UST is 13-0 in games when they score first and 7-0 in games when their defense has no errors. … Three of UST's five defeats have come by one run. The Toms have splits with nationally-ranked UW-Whitewater and Buena Vista (Iowa) and also topped UMAC Conference power St. Scholastica. … The Tommies have won 56 of their last 58 MIAC regular-season games. UST has won its last 40 April games against conference opponents over three seasons. … The Tommies have won all four MIAC regular-season championships during UST coach Chris Olean's tenure, highlighted by a third-place national finish in 2012. … Last season's 34-7 record included a 21-1 conference mark — the 2013 Tommies broke an all-sport MIAC record for largest winning margin with its eight-game spread over co-second place teams that finished 11-9. … St. Thomas has won or shared a record 11 consecutive MIAC championships.