NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team hits the road on Tuesday with its post-season hopes hanging in the balance, as the Cardinals travel to St. Olaf for a 2:30 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against the Oles. One win over St. Olaf earns Saint Mary's its third straight trip to the conference tournament.
 
The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (11-7 MIAC | 15-21 Overall) at St. Olaf Oles (9-9 MIAC | 20-18 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
Live Stats (unvailable, but you can follow @SMUSID on Twitter for inning-by-inning updates)
 
Last Action:
The Cardinals kept their MIAC Tournament hopes alive with a key conference sweep of Bethel on Sunday, as Saint Mary's beat the Royals 3-1 in the opener and 6-4 in the nightcap. … St. Olaf is coming off a nonconference split against MIAC foe Gustavus on Monday, as the Oles opened with a 13-5 win, only to have the Gusties answer with a 3-1 victory in the nigthcap in St. Peter, Minn.
 
SMU vs. St. Olaf — Earlier This Year:
March 7, 2014: The Cardinals flexed their offensive muscle in the first game, banging out 13 hits and scoring a season-high 10 runs in beat St. Olaf 10-2. Unfortunately, the Oles turned the tables in the nightcap, scoring 10 unanswered runs in beating Saint Mary's 10-6 in a pair of nonconference games in Tucson, Ariz.
 
SMU vs. St. Olaf — A Year Ago:
April 27, 2013: It took the Cardinals' offense the first seven innings of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against the Oles to match the day's balmy temperatures. After managing just one run in dropping the opener, 3-1, the Cardinals' bats came to life in the night — using a four-run third inning to erasing an early St. Olaf lead and lift SMU to a 5-2 victory and a split in the conference twinbill at Max Molock Field

The MIAC Tournament Picture:
With their wins against Bethel on Sunday, the Cardinals control their own destiny in hopes of securing their third straight MIAC Tournament appearance. One win in the doubleheader against St. Olaf locks Saint Mary's into the four-team tournament. But there is still plenty at stake in terms of how the final seeds will pan out:
• St. Thomas has locked up the No. 1 seed after winning the regular-season title with an 18-2 mark.
• Bethel (15-5) is the No. 2 seed thanks to its 6-4 win over Concordia in Game 1 of its MIAC doubleheader Monday.
• Saint John's (13-7) earns either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed. It would lose the head-to-head tiebreaker with either BU or SMU, and would be the three seed if there is a three way tie at 13-7.
• With a sweep of St. Olaf, Saint Mary's — which holds the tie-breaker over Saint John's — would finish tied with the Johnnies for third at 13-7 and earn the No. 3 seed. A win and a loss vs. St. Olaf, and SJU would be the third seed and Saint Mary's would be No. 4.Two Cardinal losses to the Oles, and Carleton would land the fourth and final post-season berth.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
With their sweep of Bethel on Sunday, the Cardinals pushed their winning streak to four straight. Saint Mary's has also won five of its last seven contests. … With their 3-1, 6-4 victories over Bethel, the Cardinals have now swept three of their last four conference doubleheaders. … Saint Mary's has won the first game in eight of its nine conference doubleheaders this season — including its 3-1 Game 1 win over Bethel on Sunday. … Kevin Miley (St. Paul, Minn.) and Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.) each had two hits in the Cardinals' Game 1 win over Bethel Sunday, while Taylor Thelemann (Bloomington, Minn.) was the lone multiple-hit performer in Game 2, going 2-for-4. … Thelemann recorded his first collegiate four-hit game in the opener against Augsburg on April 22, going 4-for-4. … Thelemann's 4-for-4 showing against Augsburg was the Cardinals' seventh four-hit game of the season. Miley, Ben Buerkle (Roseville, 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. … Buerkle, who had his season-opening 20-game hit streak snapped in Game 2 against Gustavus on April 12, has had at least one hit in 31 of the 35 games he's played in — and has reached base safely in 34 of 35 contests. … Buerkle's 20-game hit streak was Saint Mary's longest since Brady Knudsen hit safely in 21 straight games during the 2008 season. … Buerkle owns a team-leading .370 batting average among Saint Mary's regulars. The freshman also leads or shares the team lead in runs (29), home runs (2), RBIs (28) and slugging percentage (.535). … Doll, who is second to Buerkle with a .347 batting average, is the team-leader in at-bats (147), hits (51), doubles (17), triples (3), total bases (77) and stolen bases (19). … Doll belted his first home run of the season — and fifth of his career — in the sixth inning against Luther on April 21. … Doll became the fifth different Cardinal to hit a home run this season. Buerkle, Tyler Lursen (Maple Grove, Minn.) 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. … Both of Buerkle's home runs have been inside-the-parkers. … Doll leads the team with 18 multiple-hit games this season. … Buerkle is the team's leader in multiple-RBI games with nine, one more than Miley. … Doll and Gannon are the only two Cardinals to have started all 36 games this season. … Gannon has started every game during his three years as a Cardinal — a span of 113 straight games. … Ben Johnson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) collected his team-leading fifth pitching win of the season against Bethel Sunday, while Scatassa notched his fourth win in Game 2 vs. the Royals Sunday. … Johnson has compiled a 5-2 record and 3.80 ERA in a 47 1/3 innings. … Scatassa (4-2, 4.74 ERA) is the team-leader in innings pitched with 49 1/3, while also leading the team with 35 strikeouts. … Ben Dobosenski (Westmont, Ill.), who tossed his first collegiate complete game against Gustavus on April 12, notched his first collegiate save with two innings of one-hit ball against Bethel in Game 1 Sunday. …  A.J. Redders (Middleton, Wis.) picked up his team-leading fifth save of the season in Game 2 against Bethel Sunday. … Johnson, Dobosenski and Chris Bartosz (Woodridge, Ill.) all recorded their first collegiate pitching wins during SMU's spring trip to Tucson, Ariz. … The Cardinals' 13 runs in Game 1 against Macalester on April 19 were a season high, while the 13 runs in the opener and 10 runs in Game 2 vs. the Scots 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. … Saint Mary'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, Saint Mary's 1-0 loss to Augsburg on April 22 marked the first time this season the Cardinals have been held scoreless. … The Cardinals have scored four or more runs in 24 of their 36 games. … The Cardinals have scored first in 14 of their 15 wins. … SMU is 13-2 when leading after the sixth inning.
 
Scouting The St. Olaf Oles:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
The Oles were officially eliminated from post-season contention with their 4-3, 13-9 losses to Hamline last Saturday. … St. Olaf heads into Tuesday's regular-season finale against Saint Mary's having lost seven of its last eight conference games. … Sam Maus heads into Tuesday's showdown with the Cardinals hitting a team-best .402. … Maus also leads the team in runs (43), hits (51), doubles (14), triples (2), home runs (5), RBIs (30), total bases (84) and slugging percentage (661). … Jack Schechinger is second to Maus in batting average (.349), doubles (9), home runs (4), RBIs (29), total bases (58) and slugging percentage (.547), while leading the team with a .514 on-base percentage. … Maus and Schechinger have accounted for nine of the team's 11 home runs — Kap Davis and Chris Paradise have hit the Oles' other two round-trippers. … Maus has stolen a team-best nine bases on 11 attempts, with Paradise one steal back, swiping eight bases on 12 attempts. … Nate Gelle leads the Ole pitching staff with five wins in eight starts. … Ryan Tapani (4-3, 4.11 ERA) has thrown a team-best 50 1/3 innings, while also leading the team with four complete games and 37 strikeouts. … Joey Voss is the team's saves leader with four. … St. Olaf has scored 10 or more runs eight times this season, including a season-high 17 in a 17-7 win over Springfield College on March 21. … On the flip side, the Oles have surrendered 10 or more runs in a game five times — including a 21-12 loss to Concordia-Chicago on March 8.