WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team returns to Max Molock Field on Sunday, as the Cardinals host Saint John's in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-3 MIAC | 13-9 Overall) vs. Saint John's Johnnies (1-2 MIAC | 13-7 overall), 1 p.m.
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats | GameDay Program | Strikeout Cancer Day
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals split their conference doubleheader at Gustavus Wednesday in St. Peter, Minn., scoring four times in the top of the seventh inning to rally for a 10-7 Game 1 win, while falling in the nightcap 3-2 | Recap
• Saint John's: The Johnnies dropped the first game of their MIAC twinbill at Carleton on Wednesday in Northfield, Minn., falling to the Knights 4-3. Game 2 was suspended in the 11^th inning with the two teams deadlocked at 3-3. Not date has been set for the resumption of that contest | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Saint John's—Their Last Meeting:
• April 4, 2015 * Collegeville, Minn.: The Cardinals kicked off the conference season with back-to-back splits—winning Game 1 against both defending conference champion St. Thomas and Hamline—only to fall in the nightcap of both contests. That all changed against the Johnnies. Not only did the Cardinals post their third straight MIAC Game 1 victory with a 7-2 triumph at Saint John's Field, but they also tacked on a 9-6 victory in the second game to complete their first conference sweep | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals hit the road on Tuesday, traveling to CHS Field in St. Paul, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. conference doubleheader against Hamline.
• Saint John's: The Johnnies are right back in action on Sunday, returning home to Collegeville, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. nine-inning nonconference game against St. Scholastica.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2016 Roster | 2016 Statistics | 2016 Schedule
• The Cardinals' 10-7 Game 1 win over Gustavus Wednesday snapped their season-high five-game losing streak. … The Cardinals' 10 Game 1 runs against the Gusties were the most since plating 10 against Wheaton (Ill.) in a 10-5 win on March 18. … Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) led the Cardinal offense in Game 1 against the Gusties Wednesday, going 2-for-4 with five RBIs—including a three-run, seventh-inning home run. … Saint Mary's boasted four players—Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.), Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.), Dixon Irwin (Red Wing, Minn.), and Cale Pieczynski (Plover, Wis.)—who had two hits in Game 2 against Gustavus Wednesday. … Kinne's five-RBI effort against Gustavus in Game 1 Wednesday marked the second time this season the junior has driven in five runs in a game—also achieving the feat against Concordia on Feb. 23. … Ben Buerkle, who had at least one hit in both games vs. Gustavus Wednesday, boasts a team-leading .411 batting average, while also leading the Cardinals in runs (21), hits (30), doubles (11)—including all three of his hits against Gustavus—triples (2), total bases (45), slugging percentage (.616), walks (19), and on-base percentage (.532). … Buerkle is one of four Cardinals hitting above .300 this season—Doll (.363), Jacob Frost (Moline, Ill. / .353), and Kinne (.312) are the others. … Barry belted his team-leading third home run against Aurora on March 18. …  Kinne has accounted for the Cardinals' other two round-trippers this season—including 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 11 bases in 12 attempts through 22 games this season, giving him a school-record 69 for his four-year career. … Buerkle has had a hit in 20 of the Cardinals' 22 games this season, and has reached base safely in all 22 contests. … Buerkle, who had a hit in 34 of 36 games last season, has now collected at least one hit in 91 of the 98 games he's played in, and has been held off the base paths just twice in those 98 career contests. … Buerkle heads into the Cardinals' DH against St. John's riding the team's longest active hitting streak at 11. … Doll owns the team lead with 10 multiple-hit games, while Kinne has amassed a team-high four multiple-RBI games. … Nathan Mathwig (Woodbury, Minn.) collected his team-leading third pitching win of the season against Cornell on March 19. … Mathwig, who also owns three of the team's six saves, boasts a 3-0 record and a team-best 1.23 ERA in 14.2 IP. … Ben Johnson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) has logged a team-leading 30.0 innings, while Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill. / 29.2 IP) and Jacob Dawson (Oakdale, Minn. / 27.2 IP) have also thrown more than 20 innings this season. … Scatassa owns a 2-1 record and a 3.34 ERA, while Johnson has also picked up two wins, going 2-3 with a 7.50 ERA. … Scatassa and Johnson have made a team-high six starts, one more than Dawson, while Mathwig and Ryan Fejt (Westchester, Ill.) have made a team-leading eight pitching appearances. … Scatassa is also the team's strikeout lead with 27. … Eli Morrison (Minneapolis, Minn. / 1-0, 1.42 ERA) and Jesse Barron (Minnetonka, Minn. / 1-1, ,4.15 ERA) 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. / 1-2, 4.12 ERA) 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 128 runs in 22 contests this season—including five games of 10 or more runs. … The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 21-8 in the second innings and 25-19 in the fifth. … Saint Mary's is 11-2 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 (11-0) when scoring six or more runs. … Saint Mary's has been held to two runs or less in seven of its nine  losses this season. … The Cardinals went through a five-game stretch in which four games were against nationally ranked teams—No. 18 UW-La Crosse and No. 21 St. Thomas—while the other contest was vs. NCAA Division I University of Minnesota. … Saint Mary's 9-1 loss to the University of Minnesota on March 30 marked the first time the Cardinals and Gophers had squared off in program history. … 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. … 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 Saint John's Johnnies:
2016 Roster | 2016 Schedule | 2016 Statistics
• Saturday's doubleheader at Saint Mary's is the second straight road twinbill for the Johnnies, who are 11-6 away from home this season. … SJU's 4-3 Game 1 loss to Carleton Wednesday was the Johnnies' second straight one-run loss—Saint John's fell to Hamline 3-2 in the second game of its DH vs. Hamline last Sunday. … Six of Saint John's seven losses this season have been decided by two runs or less. … Saint John's enters Saturday's showdown with Saint Mary's hitting .331 as a team. … The Johnnies boast five regulars who are hitting above .300, led by Cole Weaver (.456) and Patrick Strey (.408). Logan Hershey (.380), Derek Schiebel (.363), and Max Jackson (.329) are the others hitting above .300 through 20 games. … Strey has scored a team-high 22 runs, while also leading the Johnnies in doubles (13), RBIs (25), total bases (49), and slugging percentage (.690). … Hershey owns the team lead in hits with 30—one more than both Strey and Schiebel. … Schiebel has accounted for a team-high three of the Johnnies' eight home runs. … Jackson has drawn a team-leading 14 walks. … Hershey and Weaver share the team lead with 10 multiple-hit games, and Schiebel and Strey are the team-leaders in multiple-RBI games with seven each. … Saint John's is a perfect 22-for-22 in the stolen base department, with Gabe MacDonald's six steals leading the way. … The Saint John's pitching staff owns a 2.73 team ERA. … SJU has three hurlers—Strey (29.0 IP), Alex Kendall (28.1 IP), and Ben Etzell—who have thrown 20 or more innings, while four of Johnnie pitchers have logged 10 or more innings. … Kendall (2-2, 1.59 ERA), Strey (3-1, 2.17 ERA), Etzell (1-0, 5.87 ERA), and Marcus Barone (2-0, 4.58 ERA) have all made a team-high four pitching starts, while Ted Christian (0-2, 1.74 ERA) is the team-leader in appearances with eight. … Strey has tossed three complete games in his four starts and leads the team with 26 strikeouts, two more than Kendall. … SJU has outscored its opponents 159-78—including 24-5 in the first inning and 23-4 in the seventh. … Saint John's has plated 10 or more runs eight times this season—including a season-high 21 runs in a 21-1 rout of UM-Morris on March 29. … SJU is 6-0 when holding its opponents to two runs or less, while going 11-3 when allowing fewer than six runs. … Saint John's is unbeaten (6-0) when scoring in the first inning, and 8-2 when scoring the game's first run. … Saint John's has played two extra-inning games this season, losing in both in 11 innings—7-6 to the University of Jamestown and 5-4 to Keystone.