WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team bids farewell to its six graduating seniors on Senior Day Saturday, as the Cardinals host Concordia in a 1 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at Max Molock Field.
 
The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (7-7 MIAC | 11-21 Overall) vs. Concordia Cobbers (7-7 MIAC | 15-12 Overall)
 
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Last Action:
The Cardinals suffered a conference and nonconference loss to Hamline on Friday, falling 11-10 in 11 innings in the completion of the teams' April 2 suspended game, before dropping a 7-6 nonconference setback to the Pipers later in the day. … The Cobbers picked up a pair of key conference wins on Tuesday, knocking off Gustavus 3-2 and 10-0 in St. Peter, Minn.
 
SMU vs. Concordia — A Year Ago:
May 9, 2013: There was good news, and there was bad news for the Cardinals against Concordia. First, the bad news: Concordia used a pair of big innings — a six-run third inning in the first game, and a three-run fourth inning in the nightcap — as the Cobbers swept the Cardinals, 10-5 and 5-4, in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference finale. Now, the good news: Despite the two losses, the Cardinals are headed to the MIAC Tournament for the second straight year. The Cardinals, who could have earned the No. 2 spot in the six-team tournament field with a sweep of the Cobbers — or a split and an Augsburg split against St. Olaf Thursday — enter Friday's opening round as the No. 6 seed and will square off against No. 3 Augsburg at 7 p.m. at Veterans Field in Minnetonka, Minn..

Up Next:
The Cardinals hit the road on Wednesday, traveling to Northfield, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against St. Olaf. … Concordia returns home on Tuesday, hosting Bethel in a 1 p.m. MIAC twinbill in Moorhead, Minn.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
Saturday's doubleheader against Concordia is not only the Cardinals' final home game of the regular-season, but it's also the final collegiate game at Max Molock Field for SMU seniors Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.), Taylor Thelemann (Bloomington, Minn.), Pat Krieger (Mendota Heights, Minn.), Paul LaNasa (Mahtomedi, Minn.), Tommy Merkelis (Calumet City, Ill.) and Zach Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.). … Hamline scored two runs in its final at-bat in both wins over Saint Mary's on Friday, marking the second and third straight games in which the Cardinals have lost on a walk-off hit. … The Cardinals picked up their first conference sweep of the season with their 13-3, 10-5 wins over Macalester on April 19. … SMU has won the first game in six of its seven conference doubleheaders this season — including last Tuesday's 8-2 Game 1 win over Augsburg. … The Cardinals' 13 runs in Game 1 against Macalester were a season high, while the 13 runs in the opener and 10 runs in Game 2 marked the first time since beating Illinois Institute of Technology 12-4 and 15-4 on March 8, 2013 that SMU has scored 10 or more runs in both games of a doubleheader. … Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) went 3-for-5 — including his second inside-the-park home run of the season — in the Cardinals' nonconference loss to Hamline Friday. … Taylor Thelemann (Bloomington, Minn.) recorded his first collegiate four-hit game in the opener against Augsburg Tuesday, going 4-for-4. … Thelemann's 4-for-4 showing against Augsburg on Tuesday was the Cardinals' seventh 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 seven. … Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.), who had his season-opening 20-game hit streak snapped in Game 2 against Gustavus on April 12 — and was held off the base paths for the first time this season in Tuesday's opener against Augsburg, snapping the freshman's 28-game streak of reaching base safely — has had at least one hit in 28 of the 31 games he's played in. … 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 .378 batting average among Saint Mary's regulars. The freshman also leads or shares the team lead in runs (23), triples (2), home runs (2), RBIs (25) and slugging percentage (.559). … Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.), who is second to Buerkle with a .341 batting average, is the team-leader in at-bats (129), hits (44), doubles (15), triples (2), total bases (68) and stolen bases (17). … Doll belted his first home run of the season — and fifth of his career — in the sixth inning against Luther last Monday. … Doll became the fifth different Cardinal to hit a home run this season. Buerkle, Lursen and Miley have all collected Game 2 home runs this season — Buerkle against St. Thomas, Lursen against Carleton and Miley vs. Hamline — while Zach Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) delivered a three-run shot against Concordia-Chicago on March 6. … Doll leads the team with 15 multiple-hit games this season. … Buerkle is the team's leader in multiple-RBI games with eight, two more than Miley and David Barry (Apple Valley, Minn.) … Doll and Gannon are the only two Cardinals to have started all 32 games this season. … Gannon has started every game during his three years as a Cardinal — a span of 109 straight games. … Ben Johnson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) collected his team-leading third pitching win of the season with a seven-hit, complete-game performance against Macalester last Saturday. … The complete game was Johnson's team-high second of the season. … Johnson has compiled a 3-2 record and 3.86 ERA in 37 1/3 innings. … Ben Dobosenski (Westmont, Ill.) — who pitched eight scoreless innings in getting a no-decision in Game 2 against Augsburg last Tuesday — tossed his first collegiate complete game against Gustavus on April 12. … Scatassa earned his second win of the year with a complete-game effort against Augsburg in the opener Tuesday. … Scatassa (2-2, 4.69 ERA) is the team-leader in innings pitched with 40 1/3, while also leading the team with 30 strikeouts. … Johnson, Dobosenski and Chris Bartosz (Woodridge, Ill.) all recorded their first collegiate pitching wins during SMU's spring trip to Tucson, Ariz. … SMU's Game 1 win over the Gusties on April 12 was its second shutout victory of the season — the Cardinals also blanked Hamline 6-0 on April 2. On the flip side, last Tuesday's 1-0 loss to Augsburg marked the first time this season the Cardinals have been held scoreless. … The Cardinals have scored four or more runs in 21 of their 32 games. … The Cardinals have scored first in 10 of their 11 wins. … SMU is 9-2 when leading after the sixth inning.
 
Scouting The Concordia Cobbers:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
With their sweep of Gustavus on Tuesday, the Cobbers have now won three straight and five of their last eight. … The Cobbers' sweep of Gustavus pushed to 7-7 in conference play and just one game out of the fourth, and final, MIAC Tournament spot. … Ross Merriman and Kyle Connelly tossed complete games in pacing Concordia to its 3-2, 10-0 sweep of Gustavus Tuesday. Merriman scattered six hits and allowed just two earned runs in the opener, while Connelly blanked the Gusties on two hits en route to his first collegiate shutout. … Offensively, Phil Kuball went 2-for-3 with three RBIs in Game 1 vs. GAC, while Jordan Gefroh was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs score to pace the Cobbers' 14-hit Game 2 attack. … CC is hitting .308 as a team and boasts six players who are hitting .300 or better — led by Gefroh at .418. … Kuball (.321) leads the team with 106 at-bats, while Michael Olson (.371) is the team leader in runs (27), hits (36), doubles (7) and stolen bases (5). … Gefroh shares the team lead in doubles with Olson, and owns the team lead in triples (3), home runs (3), total bases (55) and slugging percentage (.696). … The Cobbers boast four players who have had 10 or more multiple-hit games this season — Kuball (11), Braden Rahman (11), Geforh (10) and Olson (10). … Rahman, Olson and Gefroh also share the team lead in multiple-RBI games with six each. … Shawn Krueger leads the CC pitching staff with five wins in seven starts. … Jackson Meland (3-2, 4.08 ERA) has logged a team-high 44 innings, with Krueger (5-1, 4.08 ERA) second with 39 2/3 innings pitched. … Meland leads the team with 27 strikeouts. … Bryce Feis (1-0, 1.88 ERA) has made a team-high 12 appearances and owns all four of CC's saves. … Concordia has scored 174 runs this season — and has scored at least one run in all 27 games. … CC is 13-1 when holding its opponent to five runs or less — including 8-0 when its opponent is held under three runs. … The Cobbers are 14-1 when leading after the sixth inning.