WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team returns to action on Thursday, as the Cardinals entertain Carleton in a 2:30 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at Max Molock Field.
 
The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-4 MIAC | 7-16 Overall) vs. Carleton Knights (5-3 MIAC | 13-7 Overall)
 
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Last Action:
The Cardinals dropped pair of conference games to league-leading St. Thomas Tuesday, as the Tommies handed SMU 4-3 and 13-5 setbacks at Koch Diamond in St. Paul, Minn. … The Knights erupted for 14 runs in back-to-back wins over Finlandia on Tuesday, as Carleton beat the Lions 14-0 and 14-5 in a nonconference doubleheader at Mel Taube Field in Northfield, Minn.
 
SMU vs. Carleton — A Year Ago:
May 8, 2013: The Cardinals helped solidify their case for one the five conference post-season invitations, collecting a clutch, 6-4, 5-4 conference sweep of Carleton at Mel Taube Field in Northfield, Minn.
 
Up Next:
The Cardinals are back on their home turf on Saturday, as SMU hosts Macalester in a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader at Max Molock Field. … Carleton is also back in conference action on Saturday, entertaining Saint John's in a 1 p.m. MIAC doubleheader at Mel Taube Field in Northfield, Minn.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
After back-to-back road doubleheaders — including Tuesday's "home" games at St. Thomas — the Cardinals return home to Max Molock Field for back-to-back doubleheaders against Carleton and Macalester. … 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. … Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.) went 2-for-3 to pace SMU's six-hit Game 1 attack vs. UST Tuesday. … All six of the Cardinals' hits in the opener were singles. … Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.) delivered a pair of doubles in a 4-for-5 Game 2 effort vs. the Tommies, while Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) finished 2-for-4, including his first collegiate home run — a two-run, inside-the-park shot in the first inning. … Buerkle accounted for four of SMU's 11 hits in the opener vs. Gustavus last Saturday, but 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 vs. the Gusties, a walk in the opener against St. Thomas and his 2-for-4 performance in Game 2 vs. UST, Buerkle has reached base safely in 23 straight games. … Buerkle's 20-game hit streak was SMU's longest since Brady Knudsen hit safely in 21 straight games during the 2008 season. … Buerkle owns a team-leading .377 batting average. The freshman also leads or shares the team lead in runs (17), triples (2), RBIs (19) and slugging percentage (.571). … Doll (.352) is the team-leader in at-bats (91), hits (32), doubles (11), triples (2), total bases (47) and stolen bases (13). … Doll's 4-for-5 showing against St. Thomas was sixth four-hit game of the season. Buerkle, 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 six. … Like Buerkle vs. St. Thomas, Miley launched his first collegiate HR in a Game 2, his coming 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 10 multiple-hit games this season. … Buerkle is the team's leader in multiple-RBI games with seven. … Doll and Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) are the only two Cardinals to have started all 23 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.) — who went six innings in Tuesday's Game 1 loss vs. the Tommies — 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 15 of their 23 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 seven 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 Carleton Knights:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
With their back-to-back nonconference wins over Finlandia, Carleton pushed their winning streak to four straight. … Fourteen of the Knights' 20 games this season have had the winner score nine or more runs. Carleton is 8-6 in those 14 games — including scoring a season-high 18 runs in 18-5 and 18-6 wins over Macalester on April 7. … The Knights head into their conference doubleheader against Saint Mary's hitting .350 as a team and boast eight players who are batting .300 or better, including four — Jeff Dsida (.468), David Stillerman (.463), Hayden Tsutsui (.455) and Hikaru Mizuno (.417) — hitting above .400. … Tsutsui leads the team in at-bats (88), hits (40), doubles (11) and total bases (60), while Dsida boasts a team-best four triples and Stillerman has scored a team-leading 31 runs. … Ray Yong has belted four of the Knights' eight home runs and leads the team with 24 RBIs. … Carleton is 10-for-14 in the stolen bases department, led by Yong and Kevin Johnson with three steals each. … Carleton has eight players with 10 or more hits through 20 games, while boasting six players with 10 or more RBIs. … Jack Violetta has been the ace of the Carleton pitching staff, owning a 4-0 record and 2.32 ERA in 31.0 innings pitched. Violetta also leads the squad in strikeouts with 29. … Jackson Tears has made a team-leading 11 appearances — 10 in relief — and owns one of the team's two saves. … Carleton has scored 20 or more runs six of the game's first seven innings. … The Knights have outscored their opponents in every inning but the fourth (where they have been outscored 22-8) and the eighth (where they have been outscored 12-8). … Carleton has played two extra-inning games this season, winning both — beating Nebraska Wesleyan 3-2 in 10 innings and Augsburg 4-3 in 12. … With their two wins over Finlandia, Carleton improved to 7-1 at Mel Taube Field this season.