ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team hits the road on Sunday, traveling to Hargis Park on the Bethel campus for a 1 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against the Royals.
 
The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (9-7 MIAC | 13-21 Overall) at Bethel Royals (13-3 MIAC | 22-8 Overall)
 
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Last Action:
The Cardinals kept their MIAC Tournament hopes alive with a key conference sweep of Concordia on Saturday, as Saint Mary's beat the Cobbers 7-3 in the opener and 9-6 in the nightcap. … Bethel handed St. Olaf a 3-2 setback in the opening game of the teams' conference doubleheader on April 26, but the Oles responded with a 7-1 victory in Game 2 to earn the split at Mark Almli Field in Northfield, Minn.
 
SMU vs. Bethel — A Year Ago:
April 25, 2013: The Cardinals entered their MIAC doubleheader against Bethel averaging more than six runs a game — and were coming off an 11-run outburst in an 11-7 victory over Saint John's that earned SMU a conference split against the Johnnies. That high-powered offensive attack was nowhere to be found in SMU's opener against Bethel, as the Cardinals were held to just two runs on six hits. Thanks to the efforts of starting pitcher Teddy VanRanst (St. Paul, Minn.) and three Cardinal relievers, however, two runs was more than enough, as the quartet blanked the Royals on five hits in leading SMU to a 2-0 Game 1 victory. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the offensive power outage continued in Game 2 — and this time the SMU pitching staff couldn't bail them out — as Bethel scored three runs in the second and two more in the third in handing Saint Mary's a 5-1 setback.
 
Up Next:
The Cardinals are back on the road for their final regular-season MIAC doubleheader on Tuesday, traveling to Northfield, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. conference doubleheader against St. Olaf at Mark Almli Field. … Bethel closes out its MIAC regular-season schedule on Monday, traveling to Moorhead, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference twinbill against Concordia.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
The Cardinals enter their final two conference doubleheaders of the season tied with St. Olaf and Carleton for the fourth and final spot in the four-team MIAC Tournament. All three teams are sitting at 9-7, two games back of Saint John's (11-5) and four behind Bethel (13-3). … Saint Mary's doubleheader against Concordia on April 26 was 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.). … Saint Mary's 7-3 Game 1 win over Concordia on April 26 snapped a streak of three straight games in which the Cardinals lost in their opponent's final at-bat. … The Cardinals collected their second conference sweep of the season with their 7-3, 9-6 victories over Concordia last Saturday. Saint Mary's also swept Macalester 13-3, 10-5 on April 19. … Saint Mary's has won the first game in seven of its eight conference doubleheaders this season — including its 7-3 Game 1 win over Concordia on April 26. … Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a pair of runs scored in Saint Mary's Game 1 win over Concordia, while Kevin Miley (St. Paul, Minn.) took Buerkle's role in the nightcap, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. … Taylor Thelemann (Bloomington, Minn.) 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. Buerkle, Miley, 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 — and was held off the base paths for the first time this season in SMU's opener against Augsburg on April 22, snapping the freshman's 28-game streak of reaching base safely — had a hit in both games vs. Concordia on April 26 and has now had at least one hit in 30 of the 33 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 .383 batting average among Saint Mary's regulars. The freshman also leads or shares the team lead in runs (26), triples (2), home runs (2), RBIs (28) and slugging percentage (.550). … Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.), who is second to Buerkle with a .348 batting average, is the team-leader in at-bats (138), hits (48), doubles (16), triples (3), total bases (73) and stolen bases (18). … 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 17 multiple-hit games this season. … Buerkle is the team's leader in multiple-RBI games with nine, two more than Miley. … Doll and Gannon are the only two Cardinals to have started all 34 games this season. … Gannon has started every game during his three years as a Cardinal — a span of 111 straight games. … Ben Johnson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) collected his team-leading fourth pitching win of the season against Concordia last Saturday. … Johnson has compiled a 4-2 record and 4.04 ERA in a 42 1/3 innings. … Ben Dobosenski (Westmont, Ill.) tossed his first collegiate complete game against Gustavus on April 12. … Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.) earned his third win of the year against Concordia Saturday. … Scatassa (3-2, 4.87 ERA) is the team-leader in innings pitched with 44 1/3, while also leading the team with 34 strikeouts. … A.J. Redders (Middleton, Wis.) picked up his team-leading fourth save of the season in Game 2 against Concordia last Saturday, while Jake Merkle (Mahtomedi, Minn.) earned his first collegiate save in the opener vs. the Cobbers. … 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 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. … 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 23 of their 34 games. … The Cardinals have scored first in 12 of their 13 wins. … SMU is 11-2 when leading after the sixth inning.
 
Scouting The Bethel Royals:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
The Royals head into Sunday's showdown with Saint Mary's sitting in second place in the conference standings, one game behind league-leading St. Thomas and two games in front of third-place Saint John's. … The Royals' 7-1 Game 2 loss to St. Olaf on April 26 snapped their three-game winning streak. BU is 10-2 in its last 12 games. … Matt Conrad heads into Sunday's DH vs. Saint Mary's leading the team with a .455 batting average. Grant Anderson is also hitting above .400, sitting at .429, while two other BU regulars own batting averages above .300. … Bryce Marquardt (.352) leads the team in at-bats (105), runs (26), hits (37), total bases (41) and stolen bases (23), while Anderson has belted a team-best five doubles and Conrad owns team-highs in slugging percentage (.600), on-base percentage (.557) and walks (12). … Bethel has belted seven home runs this season, led by Mike Schultz with three and Bret Neuville with two. … Anderson and Marquardt share the team lead with nine multiple-hit games, while Jarad Watts has posted a team-high six multiple-RBI games. … Schultz has reached base safe in each of Bethel's last 17 games. … Joe Zorn has logged a team-best 51 2/3 innings on the mound, compiling a 5-2 record and 4.18 ERA. … Zorn also leads the Royal pitching staff in appearances (10), complete games (2) and strikeouts (33). … Matt Herringshaw is second to Zorn in innings pitched (39 1/3), while posting a 3-0 record and a team-low 2.06 ERA. … Bethel puts its 5-1 home record on the line Sunday against Saint Mary's. The Royals are 16-7 away from home this season.