WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Thursday, entertaining Augsburg in a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader at Max Molock Field
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (5-5 MIAC | 17-11-1 Overall) vs. Augsburg Auggies (5-5 MIAC | 15-13 overall), 2:30 p.m.
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats | GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals picked up a pair of key conference road wins last Saturday in Northfield, Minn., beating St. Olaf 7-4 in Game 1, then using a three-run home run by Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.) in the ninth inning to rally for a 7-5 win over the Oles in the nightcap | Recap
• Augsburg: The Auggies came away with a split in their MIAC twinbill against Concordia last Saturday at Parade Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn., taking the first game 10-8, while dropping the second game 9-6 | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Augsburg—Their Last Meeting:
• April 22, 2015 * Winona, Minn.: Augsburg scored all five of its runs in the top of the sixth inning, erasing a 1-0 Saint Mary's lead in handing the Cardinals a 5-2 setback in Game 1 of the teams' conference doubleheader at Max Molock Field. In Game 2, the Auggies scored in each of the first four innings—and added a single run in the sixth and six more in the ninth—as Augsburg completed the sweep with a 17-5 victory | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals take to the road on Sunday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader against Macalester.
• Augsburg: The Auggies return home to Parade Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn., on Saturday, hosting Saint John's in a 1 p.m. MIAC twinbill.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2016 Roster | 2016 Statistics | 2016 Schedule
• Saint Mary's 7-4 and 7-5 wins over St. Olaf last Saturday marked the Cardinals' first conference sweep of the season—and their first sweep since taking two from Houghton, 9-3 and 6-2, on Feb. 27. … Fueled by their 7-4 win over St. Olaf last Saturday, the Cardinals have now won Game 1 in their last four doubleheaders—and seven times in their nine twinbills this season. … Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.), who went 4-for-5 against UW-Oshkosh last Friday, picked up right where he left off against St. Olaf last Saturday, going 4-for-9 with five RBIs—including a game-winning, three-run home run in the top of the ninth inning. … Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) picked up three hits in the Cardinals' sweep of St. Olaf, giving the junior 12 hits in 21 at-bats (.571) in Saint Mary's five games last week. … With his four hits against St. Olaf, Doll—who owns a team-high 15 multiple-hit games—pushed his team-leading batting average to .391, percentage points ahead of Ben Buerkle's (Roseville, Minn.,) .388 average. … Doll also leads the Cardinals in at-bats (110) and hits (43). … Buerkle, who had his season-high 14-game hitting streak snapped in Game 2 against Hamline last Tuesday, is second to Doll in hits with 38, while leading the team in runs (31), doubles (12), slugging percentage (.582), walks (26), and on-base percentage (.512). … Buerkle, who induced a pair of walks against UW-Oshkosh last Friday, has now walked five times in his last four games. … Buerkle has reached base safely in all 29 contests this season. … Buerkle—who hit safely in 34 of 36 games a year ago—has had a hit in 26 of the Cardinals' 29 games this season, and has now collected at least one hit in 97 of the 104 games he's played in. … Buerkle has been held off the base paths just twice in 102 career contests. … Kinne delivered his team-leading third triple of the season against UW-Oshkosh last Friday. … Kinne, who leads the team with 29 RBIs, recorded his second five-RBI effort of the season in Game 1 against Gustavus on April 6. The junior also achieved the feat against Concordia on Feb. 23. … Cale Pieczynski (Plover, Minn.) went 5-for-6 in the Saint Mary's 10-inning Game 2 loss to Hamline on April 12. … Pieczynski's Game 2 effort was the first five-hit game of his collegiate career. … Tyler Lursen (Maple Grove, Minn.) belted a pair of home runs and drove in seven runs in the Cardinals' split against Saint John's on April 10. … Lursen's home runs were his first two of the season, while his ninth-inning Game 2 grand slam was the first of his collegiate career. … Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) owns a team-best three home runs, while Lursen (2), Kinne (2), Doll (2), and Buerkle (1) have hit the Cardinals' other seven round-trippers. … Kinne's home run against Concordia on Feb. 23 was the first of his collegiate career. … Doll—who closed out the season with a team- and conference-leading 21 stolen bases a year ago, collected his team-leading 15^th steal of the season against St. Olaf last Saturday, giving him a school-record 73 steals for his four-year career. … With his two RBIs against UW-Oshkosh last Friday, Kinne has now recorded a team-high seven multiple-RBI games. … Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.) and Nathan Mathwig (Woodbury, Minn.) each picked up their team-leading fourth pitching wins of the season against St. Olaf last Saturday. Scatassa went the first five innings in winning Game 1, while Mathwig pitched three innings of scoreless, two-hit relief in Saint Mary's come-from-behind win in Game 2. … Scatassa (4-1, 2.88 ERA) has logged a team-high 40.2 innings), while Jacob Dawson (Oakdale, Minn. / 34.0 IP), Ben Johnson (Brooklyn Park, Minn. / 33.0 IP), Austin Jacobs (Cannon Falls, Minn. / 27.0 IP), and Mathwig (20.2 IP) have also thrown more than 20 innings this season. … Scatassa has made a team-high eight starts, one more than Johnson, while Ryan Fejt (Westchester, Ill. / 2-0, 6.14 ERA) and Mathwig (4-0, 0.87 ERA) have made 12 and 11 appearances, respectively. … Scatassa is also the team's strikeout leader with 33. … Mathwig collected his team-leading fifth save against Hamline on April 12. … Eli Morrison (Minneapolis, Minn. / 1-1, 2.38 ERA) and Jesse Barron (Minnetonka, Minn. / 1-1, 4.38 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). … Jacobs (1-3, 5.67 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 is the team's only complete game this season and was the fifth of his collegiate career. … The Cardinals, who scored a school-record 274 runs in 2015, have plated 175 runs in 29 contests this season—including six games of 10 or more runs. … The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 26-19 in the first inning and 22-10 in the second. … Saint Mary's is 14-3 when scoring the game's first run. … Saint Mary's is unbeaten (13-0-1) when leading after the sixth inning. … Saint Mary's has been held to two runs or less in seven of its 11 losses this season. … The Cardinals' 10-7 Game 1 win over Gustavus on April 6 snapped their season-high five-game losing streak. … After not playing an extra-inning game all season, the Cardinals went into extras twice last week—falling to Hamline 7-6 in 10 innings in Game 2 of their MIAC doubleheader last Tuesday, before battling UW-Oshkosh to a 10-inning, 11-11 draw last Friday. … The Cardinals' 11-11, 10-inning tie against the Titans last Friday marked the second time in as many meetings that Saint Mary's and UW-Oshkosh have gone to extra innings. Saint Mary's beat UW-Oshkosh 1-0 in 14 innings in their last meeting on March 25, 2012. … The Cardinals went through a five-game stretch this season 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 Augsburg Auggies:
2016 Roster | 2016 Schedule | 2016 Statistics
• With their split against Concordia last Saturday, the Auggies have now settled for a split in each of their last three conference doubleheaders—and in all three, Augsburg won the first game and lost the second. … Augsburg's 10 runs in their 10-8 Game 1 win over Concordia marked the 11^th time this season the Auggies have scored 10 or more runs in a game. … Augsburg has surrendered nine more runs in each of its last three losses—including 16 in a 16-14 Game 2 loss to Macalester on April 10. … Augsburg boasted five players with two or more hits in Game 1 against Concordia last Saturday—led by Billy Brookshaw, who was 3-for-3. … Mike Brookshaw was the only Auggie with more than one hit in the nightcap against the Cobbers Saturday. … Josh Marlowe heads into the Auggies' showdown with Saint Mary's owning a team-high .429 batting average. … Marlowe is one of seven Auggies hitting above .300—Brandon Schmahl (.374), Rhett Hebig (.373), Bryce Pruszinske (.358), Mike Brookshaw (.352), Andy Julkowski (.321), and Eric Olheiser (.320) are the others. … Schmahl is the Auggie leader in at-bats (107), runs (32), hits (40), RBIs (38), and walks (17), while Marlowe boasts team-highs in doubles (8), total bases (66), slugging percentage (.725), and on-base percentage (.509). … Augsburg has belted 21 home runs this season, led by Schmahl and Olheiser with four each. … Mike Brookshaw has delivered a team-high seven triples. … The Auggies have five players with 10 or more multiple-hit games—Olheiser (11), Marlowe (11), Schmahl (10), Mike Brookshaw (10), and Hebig (10). … Three of Marlowe's 10 multiple –hit games have been four-hit affairs. … Marlowe also leads the team with 10 multiple-RBI games. … Mike Brookshaw owns the team's longest hitting streak at 10 games, but Pruszinske's six-gamer is the Auggies' longest action streak. … Jordan Brandt and Lincoln Hochmuth have logged the most innings on the mound for Augsburg this season at 37.2 and 35.0 innings, respectively. … Hochmuth (5-1, 6.94 ERA) leads the team with five wins and shares the team lead in starts (7) with Brandt (3-1, 6.45 ERA) and Luke Chinn (2-3, 7.31 ERA). … Steven Piette (0-1, 2.25 ERA) has made a team-high 13 pitching appearances, one more than Ryan Masui (1-2, 6.97 ERA). … Piette owns all three of Augsburg's saves, while Hochmuth has a team-high 26 strikeouts, four more than Brandt. … Augsburg scored 249 runs this season, and has outscored its opponents 40-16 in the fifth inning. … Augsburg is 7-0 when holding its opponents to two runs or less. … The Auggies have scored first in 16 of their 28 games, going 10-6 when plating the first run. … Augsburg is unbeaten (14-0) when outhitting its opponent. On the flip side, the Auggies are 1-12 when they are outhit. … Augsburg is just 2-6 when hitting one home run in a game, while going 4-2 when belting two or more HRs in a game.