WHEATON, Ill. — In their first game of the day Friday afternoon, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team scored three runs in the first three innings against Buena Vista—only to have the Beavers score the game's final four runs in a 4-3 BVU nonconference victory.
In their second game, the Cardinals decided to take the wait-and-see approach, allowing Wheaton to jump out to a 4-1 lead through seven innings of the nine-inning nonconference contest.
And for coach
Nick Winecke, the outcome was definitely worth the way, as the Cardinals scored six runs over the game's final two innings—plating four runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth—in handing the host Thunder a 7-5 setback at Pfund Stadium.
Saint Mary's got on the board first, scoring a single run on a
David Barry (Apple Valley, Minn.) ground out in the top of the third, but Wheaton answered with three runs in the bottom of the third and added another run in the fifth to grab a 4-1 advantage.
The Cardinals appeared to be poised to pull even—at the least—in the seventh, loading the bases with one out. A Thunder double play, however, got Wheaton out of the inning still clinging to its 4-1 advantage.
Saint Mary's wasn't about to let another golden opportunity slip through its fingers in the eighth, as the Cardinals scored four times to take its first lead of the game, 5-4.
Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) singled to open the inning and
Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.) and
Tyler Lursen (Maple Grove, Minn.) followed with a walk and a single, before
Kevin Miley (St. Paul, Minn.) delivered a two-run single,
Jake Mencacci (Wheaton, Ill.) added a sacrifice fly to left, and
Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.) belted a run-scoring single to put the Cardinals in front, 5-4.
The Cardinals added a couple insurance runs in the ninth, as Buerkle drew a one-out walk and Schlemmer and Lursen followed with back-to-back RBI doubles to push Saint Mary's lead to 7-4.
Wheaton made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth, as Josh Kimmel led off with a single and scored on Matt Schappel's triple to right-center, but Saint Mary's reliever
Ryan Fejt (Westchester, Ill.) sandwiched a pair of ground outs around a pop out to short, to ice the Cardinal win.
Lursen and
Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) paced the Cardinals' 14 hit attack, collecting three hits each, while Buerkle put together his second two-hit game of the game and
Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.) also recorded two hits in four at-bats.
Fejt improved to 3-0 with four innings of one-run relief. The junior scattered just four hits over the game's final four innings in relief of starter
Ben Johnson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), walking three and striking out two.
The Cardinals (11-3 overall) are back at Pfund Stadium on Saturday for their third game of the Wheaton Invitational, squaring off against Aurora in an 11 a.m. nine-inning contest.
