WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team kicks off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Sunday, hosting No. 21 St. Thomas in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Max Molock Field.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-0 MIAC | 12-6 Overall) vs. St. Thomas Tommies (0-0 MIAC | 7-3 overall), 1 p.m.
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats | GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals scored first, but could not generate any more offense than that solo first-inning run, as the University of Minnesota handed Saint Mary's a 9-1 nonconference setback Wednesday at Siebert Field in Minneapolis, Minn. | Recap
• St. Thomas: The Tommies are coming off a 4-2 showing during their spring trip to Winter Haven, Fla. UST beat UW-Stevens Point (10-9), UW-Oshkosh (5-4), Southern Maine (5-1), and Keuka (11-2), while falling to St. Norbert (2-1) and UW-Whitewater (13-1).
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Thomas—Their Last Meeting:
• March 30, 2015 * St. Paul, Minn.: The Cardinals rode the right arm of Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.)—and took advantage of three walks and a error to score three runs in the fifth innings—as Saint Mary's knocked off nationally ranked and defending conference champion St. Thomas 3-0 in the opening game of their MIAC twinbill. Unfortunately, Act 2 wasn't nearly as memorable for the Cardinals, as St. Thomas broke open a tight game with seven runs in the fourth inning and went on to a 13-4 victory and a split in the teams' conference-opening series | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are right back in action on Sunday, traveling to Oshkosh, Wis., for a nonconference doubleheader against UW-Oshkosh. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
• St. Thomas: The Tommies are scheduled to play their first two home games of the season on Wednesday, hosting Augsburg in a 2:30 p.m. conference doubleheader at Koch Diamond in St. Paul, Minn.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2016 Roster | 2016 Statistics | 2016 Schedule
• Sunday's doubleheader against St. Thomas is the second straight twinbill for the Cardinals. … The Cardinals' Game 1 win over St. Thomas a year ago snapped a 10-game regular-season slide vs. the Tommies—as well as ending St. Thomas' 54-game home winning streak. … Saint Mary's 9-1 loss to the University of Minnesota Wednesday marked the first time the Cardinals and Gophers had squared off in program history. … Last Tuesday's 9-2 Game 1 loss to UW-La Crosse marked the first time this season the Cardinals have lost the first game of a doubleheader. The Cardinals won Game 1 in 11 of their 16 doubleheaders a year ago. … After dropping its season-opener to Augustana, the Cardinals put together an eight-game winning streak—their longest since winning nine in a row in April, 2001. … Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.) and Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) accounted for the Cardinals' four hits against Minnesota Wednesday, with Doll going 2-for-3, while Buerkle was 2-for-4. … With his two hits vs. the Gophers, Buerkle pushed his team-leading batting average to .424. … Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn. / .335), Dolls (.333) and Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis. / .323) are also hitting above .300. … Buerkle owns a team-leading 25 hits—three more than both Kinne and Doll, and four up on Seegers. … Buerkle also leads the team in doubles (7), triples (2), total bases (36), slugging percentage (.610), walks (17), and on-base percentage (.545). … Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) belted his team-leading third home run against Aurora on March 18. …  Kinne has accounted for the Cardinals' other round-tripper this season, launching his first collegiate HR vs. Concordia on Feb. 23. … Doll—who closed out the season with a team- and conference-leading 21 stolen bases a year ago, has stolen 10 bases through 18 games this season, giving him a school-record 68 for his four-year career. … Buerkle has had a hit in 16 of the Cardinals' 18 games this season, and has reached base safely in all 18 contests. … Buerkle, who had a hit in 34 of 36 games last season, has now collected at least one hit in 87 of the 94 games he's played in, and has been held off the base paths just twice in those 94 career contests. … Kinne had his season- and career-high nine-game hitting streak snapped against Minnesota. Buerkle and Jacob Frost (Moline, Ill.) now own the longest active hit streak at seven. … Doll has collected a team-best eight multiple-hit games, Buerkle, Barry, Kinne, and Cale Pieczynski (Plover, Minn.) share the team lead with three multiple-RBI games. … Kinne drove in a career-high five runs in the Cardinals' win over Concordia on Feb. 23. … Nathan Mathwig (Woodbury, Minn.) collected his team-leading third pitching win of the season against Cornell on March 19. … Mathwig, who also owns two of the team's five saves, has not allowed an earned run in 13.0 innings—going 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA. … Ben Johnson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) has logged a team-leading 26.1 innings, while Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill. / 23.2 IP) and Jacob Dawson (Oakdale, Minn. / 22.2 IP) have also thrown more than 20 innings this season. … Scatassa—who held the Gophers to no runs on two hits in two innings of work Wednesday—owns a 2-0 record and a 2.66 ERA, while Johnson has also picked up two wins, going 2-3 with a 6.49 ERA. … Johnson has made a team-high five starts, one more than Scatassa and Dawson, while Scatassa and Johnson share the team lead with 19 strikeouts. … Eli Morrison (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Jesse Barron (Minnetonka, Minn.) have both notched their first collegiate pitching wins this season—Morrison's coming in a start against Houghton on Feb. 27 (4 IP, 0 R, 4 H) and Barron's coming in relief vs. Elmira on Feb. 25 (2.2 IP, 1 R, 3 H). … Austin Jacobs (Cannon Falls, Minn.) recorded his first collegiate save with a perfect ninth inning in the Cardinals' 7-6 win over Cornell on March 18. … Johnson's seven-hit, seven-strikeout performance against Houghton on Feb. 27 was his first complete game of the season and fifth of his collegiate career. … The Cardinals, who scored a school-record 274 runs in 2015, have plated 112 runs in 18 contests this season—including five games of 10 or more runs. … The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 112-98—including 17-9 in the first inning, 18-8 in the second, and 25-15 in the fifth. … Saint Mary's is 10-1 when scoring the game's first run. … Saint Mary's is unbeaten (10-0) when leading after the sixth inning. … The Cardinals have not lost (10-0) when scoring six or more runs. … Saint Mary's has been held to two runs or less in five of its six losses this season. … Saint Mary's March 12 twinbill against St. Scholastica marked the earliest outdoor games played at Max Molock Field in more than 20 years. … The Cardinals closed out 2015 boasting a 24-12 overall record—the most wins in a season since the Cardinals went 24-11 in 1995. … The Cardinals have now won 20 or more games twice under coach Nick Winecke—Saint Mary's finished 22-20 in 2012. … The Cardinals' 7-5 win over Wheaton on March 20, 2015 was coach Winecke's 100^th collegiate coaching victory.
 
Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2016 Roster | 2016 Schedule | 2016 Statistics
• The Tommies' two games at Saint Mary's mark the 11^th and 12^th straight road games for the Tommies, who kick off a four-game homestand on Wednesday against Augsburg. … St. Thomas heads into its conference-opening DH against Saint Mary's ranked No. 21 in the latest D3baseball.com Top 25. … Three of UST's six games in Florida were against nationally ranked teams, with the Tommies going 2-1 in those three contests. … Dan Ziemann owns a team-leading .429 batting average, with Cory Quinlan close behind at .419. … Jake Smith has a team-leading 15 hits and has scored a team-best nine runs, while sharing the top spot in doubles (3) with Quinlan. … Quinlan and Jimmy Dolan share the team lead in RBIs with six—one more than Ziemann, Smith, and Ben Walz. … Ziemann has hit the Tommies' lone home run this season, a two-run shot against Northwestern on March 16. … Smith has compiled a team-high four multiple-hit games, and shares the team lead with Ziemann for multiple-RBI games with two. … Smith and Brady Johnson are the only players to have started all 10 games for the Tommies this season. … As a team, the Tommies have stolen 10 bases in 15 attempts this season, led by Smith, Sam Cobbs, and Anthony Winters with two each. … Quinlan had his 11-game hitting streak—dating back to April, 2015—snapped with an 0-for-4 effort against eighth-ranked UW-Whitewater on March 27. … The Tommies' pitching staff has compiled a 3.83 team ERA and opponents are hitting just .265 off them. … Eric Veglahn has tossed a team-high 19.2 innings, owning a 2-0 record with a 0.46 ERA. … Veglahn has made a team-leading four pitching appearances—including three starts—and owns the team's lone save. … UST's other six pitching wins have come from six different hurlers. … Veglahn has fanned a team-leading 24 batters, with Dominic Reed second with 16 strikeouts. … St. Thomas has outscored its opponents 47-38—including a season-high 11-run effort in an 11-2 win over Keuka College on March 26. … UST holds a 14-4 scoring edge in the first inning, and the Tommies have not allowed a second-inning run all season. … Four of St. Thomas' seven wins have been by one run. … St. Thomas has been held to two runs or less in all three of its losses this season. … The Tommies have put together a pair of two-game winning streaks, and a season-opening three-gamer, and have not lost back-to-back games this season. … St. Thomas is 5-1 when scoring in the first inning, and 5-2 when scoring the game's first run. … The Tommies have won a league-best 33 regular-season conference championships, as well as 10 MIAC tournament titles (since the format began in 2000). … St. Thomas has reached the NCAA Regional playoffs 23 times, including 19 trips in the last 21 seasons. The Tommies have won six regional crowns and advanced to six NCAA College World Series. They claimed the national title in 2001 and 2009; took second in 1999 and 2000; and placed third in 2012 and 2014.