WINONA, Minn. — After the first four innings of Wednesday afternoon's nonconference home opener against Viterbo, it appeared like the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team would have little trouble notching win No. 9 on the season.
After all, with
R.J. Brown (Broadview, Ill.) and
Eli Morison (Minneapolis, Minn.) no-hitting the V-Hawks through their first four at-bats—and the Cardinal offense feasting on Viterbo pitching to the tune of seven runs through four innings—Saint Mary's was in complete control.
Viterbo did not go down quite as easily as the early innings made it appear, however, as the Cardinals staved off a late-game V-Hawk rally to post a 9-6 victory at Max Molock Field.
The Cardinals scored solo runs in each of their first two at-bats—getting a one-out single from
Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) in the first and a one-out, bases-loaded sacrifice fly by
Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.) in the second—to grab a 2-0 lead.
Brown set down the first six batters he faced, before surrendering a pair of walks in the third—a lead-off walk to Brent Stoughtenger and a two-out free pass to Noah Bouley. The junior right-hander worked out of the jam, getting Ethan Bell to fly out to left.
Buerkle opened bottom of third with a bunt single and
Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) followed with a single of his own. After a double-steal put runners on second and third,
Zach Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Buerkle, and
Dirk Drohner (Plover, Wis.) followed with an RBI single to push the lead to 4-0.
That lead ballooned to 7-0 in the bottom of the fourth, as Saint Mary's batted around, scoring three times—sandwiching RBI doubles by Buerkle and Slowiak around a run-scoring single by Kinne.
After four hitless innings—the first three against Brown and the fourth vs. Morison—Viterbo's bats came to life in the fifth, parlaying three singles into their first run of the afternoon.
Saint Mary's answered in the bottom of the sixth with a pair of runs. The Cardinals opened the sixth with back-to-back walks to pinch-hitters
Jake Mencacci (Wheaton, Ill.) and
Chris Bartosz (Woodridge, Ill.), and
Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) delivered a run-scoring single and Costello added an RBI sacrifice fly to push the Cardinal lead to 9-1.
The V-Hawks made things interesting, scoring three times in the seventh and two more in the eight to cut the deficit to 9-6. But that was as close as they would get, as Saint Mary's held on for the victory—snapping their two-game losing streak.
Buerkle and Kinne fueled the Cardinals' 15-hit offensive attack, each going 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored. Buerkle also drove in two runs, while Kinne collected one RBI. Eight of the Cardinals' nine starters finished the day with at least one hit, including a pair from both Drohner and Weinberg.
The Cardinals (9-5 overall) are back in action on Saturday, traveling to Duluth, Minn., for a nonconference doubleheader against St. Scholastica. First pitch is slated for noon.
