Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  | GameDay Preview

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — For the fourth time in their last five Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games, the Saint Mary's University baseball team's offense reached the eight-run mark in Game 1 against Augsburg at Parade Stadium.
 
With Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.) on the mound, however, the Cardinals barely needed one-fourth of that run production.
 
Scatassa limited the host Auggies to single runs in the second and third innings, scattering eight hits en route to second complete-game performance. The SMU offense, meanwhile, gave the sophomore plenty of run support, scoring two runs in the second, one in the third, three in the fourth and two more in the seventh en route to a convincing, 8-2 Game 1 victory.
 
Unfortunately, SMU and Game 2 starter Ben Dobosenski (Westmont, Ill.) could have used a few of those runs in the nightcap.
 
Dobosenski tossed eight innings of scoreless, five-hit ball, but the Cardinals failed to give him any run support — and Augsburg's Andrew Douglas broke a scoreless deadlock with a one-out, walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to give the Auggies the 1-0 Game 2 win and a split in the conference twinbill.
 
"I thought we played pretty well today," said SMU coach Nick Winecke. "We swung the bats a bit in that first game, and Dobo pitched an unbelievable game in the second game. It was just a classic pitcher's duel (in the nightcap).
 
"We had our chances and couldn't come up with the big hit," Winecke added. "But you have to give Augsburg credit, (Douglas) came up with that hit that we couldn't in the ninth inning and that was the difference in the ball game."
 
While Scatassa was baffling the Auggie hitters in the opener, the Cardinals feasted on Auggie pitching, banging out 12 hits against four Augsburg pitchers — including a 4-for-4 performance from Taylor Thelemann (Bloomington, Minn.) and a 2-for-4, 3-RBI effort by David Barry (Apple Valley, Minn.).
 
SMU got on the scoreboard in the top of the second, taking advantage of an Augsburg error and a Barry RBI groundout. Augsburg would answer with a solo run in the bottom of the second, but the Cardinals were just getting warmed up, getting a run-scoring single by Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.) in the third, and scoring three more times in the fourth on a Barry single, a second Augsburg error and a wild pitch.
 
Thelemann and Barry each drove in runs with singles in the seventh to plate SMU's seventh and eighth runs.
 
Along with Thelemann's four this and Barry's two, Schlemmer and Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.) also collected two hits each for the Cardinals in the opener.
 
The nightcap was a classic pitcher's duel, as Dobosenski and Augsburg starter Tanner Oakes stole the show. Dobosenski did not allow a run in eight innings, scattering five hits, while striking out a career-high eight. Oakes, meanwhile, went nine innings, limiting SMU to just five hits — three come off the bat of Kevin Miley (St. Paul, Minn.) — and striking out 11.
 
SMU had its best scoring opportunities late in its final two at-bats.
 
In the eighth, Miley led off with a double and was sacrificed to second by Tyler Lursen (Maple Grove, Minn.). Thelemann was then hit by a pitch to give the Cardinals runners on first and third with one out, but Oakes wiggled out of the jam with a strikeout and ground-out to keep the game scoreless.
 
After Dobosenski worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the eighth to keep the game scoreless, the Cardinals threatened in the top of the ninth, as Gannon delivered a one-out double and moved to third on a ground-out by Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.). Oakes, however, struck out Schlemmer on a 3-2 count to end the threat.
 
Augsburg opened up its half of the ninth getting a one-out infield single by Adam Carl off SMU reliever A.J. Redders (Middleton, Wis.). Cole promptly stole second and scored on Douglas' RBI single to center.
 
Along with Miley's three hits — including that eighth-inning double — Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) and Buerkle accounted for SMU's other two hits, also both doubles.
 
The Cardinals (7-6 MIAC, 11-19 overall) head to Midway Stadium in St. Paul, Minn., on Thursday, as SMU concludes its April 2 suspended game against Hamline with the score tied 9-9 heading to the 10th inning. Following the completion of that game, the two teams will square off in a nine-inning nonconference contest.