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WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team's first game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Saint John's took a page out of the classic children's story, The Tortoise and the Hare.
 
Fortunately for coach Nick Winecke, his Cardinals were the tortoise.
 
SJU jumped out to a quick 2-0 first-inning lead on a two-run home run by Josh Groth — that, however, would be the extent of the Johnnies' offense
 
SMU, on the other hand, took the more slow-and-steady-wins-the-race approach, scoring single runs in the first and second innings, before adding a pair of runs in the third to seal the 4-2 Game 1 victory.
 
It was more of the same in Game 2 — only this time, the hare not only started fast, but had something left in the tank down the stretch.
 
The Johnnies scored single runs in both the first and second innings, and erased a 3-2 SMU lead with two runs in the sixth and single runs in the eighth and ninth en route to a split-clinching 6-3 victory.
 
After Groth's one-out bomb in the top of the first of the opener, the Cardinals answered with single runs in the first and second — the first coming on a Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) RBI groundout and the second on a Taylor Thelemann (Bloomington, Minn.) run-scoring single, before taking the lead for good in the third.
 
Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.) plated SMU's first run of the third, scoring on a wild pitch, and Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.) delivered an RBI single to give the Cardinals' a 4-2 advantage.
 
An advantage that starting pitcher Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.) and reliever A.J. Redders (Middleton, Wis.) would not relinquish.
 
Scatassa picked up his first win of the season, going 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits, while striking out three. Redders collected save No. 3, surrendering just one his over the game's final 1 1/3 innings.
 
Offensively, the Cardinals' five hits came from five different players — Doll, Schlemmer, Thelemann, Paul LaNasa (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.).
 
For the second game in a row, the Johnnies got on top early, grabbing a 2-0 lead after two innings.
 
The Cardinals finally got to SJU starter Collin Felhaber in the fourth, breaking up the junior right-hander's no-hitter — and shutout bid — collecting three runs on three hits to grab a 3-2 advantage.
 
LaNasa opened the SMU fourth with a single, and moved to second on a walk to Gannon. Buerkle delivered a run-scoring double down the left-field line to score LaNasa with the Cardinals' first run. A Kevin Miley (St Paul, Minn.) sacrifice fly plated Gannon, and Zach Wolfe's (Wabasha, Minn.) run-scoring single scored Buerkle to give SMU its 3-2 advantage.
 
That, however, would be the extent of the Cardinals' offensive punch in the nightcap, as allowed just one SMU hit over the next four innings, and reliever Justin Thompson closed the door in the ninth to preserve the win.
 
For the second game in a row, no Cardinal had more than one hit, as LaNasa, Buerkle, Wolfe and Drew Denning (St. Paul, Minn.) accounted for SMU's four hits in the nightcap.
 
The Cardinals (2-1 MIAC, 6-11 overall) step out of conference play on Thursday, as SMU entertains Cornell (Iowa) in a nonconference doubleheader at Max Molock Field. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m.