The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team stepped out of its league Thursday evening.
Not only did the Cardinals step out of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with their nine-inning nonconference contest, but they also stepped out of NCAA Division III, squaring off against NCAA Division II Winona State.
And the change in scenery suited the Cardinals just fine.
Saint Mary's blasted four home runs—including two from
Kevin Miley (St. Paul, Minn.)—as the Cardinals knocked off their cross-town rivals 10-9 at Loughery Field.
After giving up the game's opening run, the Cardinals erupted for three runs in the second inning, highlighted by
Tyler Lursen's (Maple Grove, Minn.) RBI triple and a two-run home run by
Drew Denning (St. Paul, Minn.) that gave Saint Mary's a 3-1 advantage.
Winona State knotted the game at 3-3 with a pair of runs in the third, but the Cardinals again had an answerSaint Mary's scored single runs in the fourth and fifth—the first on Miley's solo home run and the second on a solo blast by
Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.)—to grab a 5-3 advantage.
The Warrirors pulled even with two runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth, but a four-run Saint Mary's sixth—including Miley's second home run of the game—gave the Cardinals a short-lived, 9-5 lead.
After the Warriors cut the gap to two, 9-7, with two runs in the bottom of the sixth,
A.J. Redders (Middleton, Wis.) pushed the Cardinal lead to 10-7 with an RBI single in the seventh, but Winona State answered with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to make it a one run game, 10-9.
Thanks to a one-hit showing by a pair of Cardinal relievers in the eighth and ninth, one run was more than enough to lock up the Saint Mary's win.
Lursen went 3-for-4 with three runs scored for the Cardinals, while Miley delivered two hits in five at-bats with three RBIs, and Denning and
Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) each chipped in two hits.
The Cardinals (22-8 overall) are back in action on Saturday, as Saint Mary's travels to Carleton for a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader against Carleton.