WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team coming off 13 straight road games, kicks off its home schedule on Wednesday, entertaining Viterbo in a 2 p.m. nine-inning contest at Max Molock Field.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (8-5 Overall) vs. Viterbo V-Hawks (2-16 Overall), 2 p.m.
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats | GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—March 17-18, 2017 * Carol Stream, Ill.: The Cardinals opened their three-game stay at the Wheaton Tournament in stellar fashion, as R.J. Brown (Broadview, Ill.) tossed a no-hitter in leading Saint Mary's to a 10-0 win over Aurora. The final two games, however, did not go as well, as the Cardinals fell to Wheaton 5-3 and Calvin 6-5 | Aurora Recap * Wheaton Recap * Calvin Recap
• Viterbo—March 18, 2017 * Wilmore, Ky.: The V-Hawks closed out their spring tirp to Kentucky with a 6-0 loss to Olivet Nazarene | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Viterbo—Their Last Meeting:
• April 5, 2012 * La Crosse, Wis.: The Cardinals scored six runs in the top of the seventh, four coming on Jon Schlemmer's (De Pere, Wis.) grand slam home run—his second round-tripper of the game—as they collected a 13-7 win in the opener of their nonconference doubleheader against the V-Hawks. There was no need for any late-game heroics in the nightcap, as Saint Mary's recorded their second straight six-run inning — scoring six times in the first inning in cruising to a sweep-clinching 8-3 victory | Recap

Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back on the road on Saturday, heading to Duluth, Minn., for a pair of games against St. Scholastica. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
• Viterbo: The V-Hawks are back in action on Saturday and Sunday, hosting Dakota State in a pair of doubleheaders at Copeland Park in La Crosse, Wis.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017 Roster | 2017 Statistics | 2017 Schedule
• Wednesday's game against Viterbo is the home opener for the Cardinals, who finished 8-8-1 at Max Molock Field a year ago. … Saint Mary's losses to Wheaton and Calvin last weekend marked the first time this season the Cardinals have dropped back-to-back games. … R.J. Brown (Broadview, Ill.) posted the Cardinals' first no-hitter in more than two decades in guiding Saint Mary's to a 10-0 win over Aurora last Friday. … Brown, who improved to 2-0 with a 3.31 ERA with his first collegiate shutout and no-hitter, struck out six against Aurora—pushing his team-leading strikeout total to 18 through three starts. … Dirk Drohner (Plover, Wis.) hit a team-leading .625 in the Cardinals' three games at the Wheaton Tournament last weekend, going 5-for-8. … Zach Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) hit .500 (5-for-10) while Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.) also finished the two-day tournament with five hits, finishing 5-for-13 (.385). … Slowiak and Matthews each drove in a team-high four runs last weekend, while Matthews and Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) accounted for Saint Mary's two home runs—blasting back-to-back, two-run shots in the bottom of the seventh inning against Aurora last Friday. …  Matthews' home run was the first of his collegiate career, while Barry's was his team-leading fourth. … Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) is the team's offensive leader, boasting a .574 batting average, while also leading or sharing the team lead in runs (19), hits (27), triples (1), home runs (4), total bases (46), slugging percentage (.979), walks (9), and on-base percentage (.655). … Buerkle had his season-opening 11-game hitting streak snapped against Wheaton last Saturday, but the senior has reached base safely in all 13 games this season. … Buerkle has collected at least one hit in 121 of the 131 games he's played in, while reaching base safely in 128 of those 131 games. … With his second hit against Rockford on March 3—a third-inning double—Buerkle became just the second player in program history with 200 hits. With his 27 hits through 13 games, Buerkle owns 207 career hits, just 13 shy of the school record, held by Willie Doll. … Buerkle is one of eight Cardinals hitting above .300—Chris Bartosz (Woodridge, Ill. / .417), Slowiak (.375), Matthews (.350), Drohner (.344), Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn. / .326), Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.), and Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis. / .315) are the others. … Saint Mary's has belted nine home runs this season, with Buerkle and Barry accounting for eight of them. … Seegers leads the team in at-bats (54) and doubles (6), while Matthews is the team's leader in triples (2) and RBIs (15). … Matthews is one of five Cardinals with 10 or more RBIs—Buerkle (11), Slowiak (10), Kinne (10), and Barry (10) are the others. … Matthews is the team-leader with two triples. … Saint Mary's is 25-for-29 in stolen base attempts, led by Seegers with seven and Buerkle with six. … Buerkle leads the team with nine multiple-hit games—including a season-high four-hit effort in Game 2 against MSOE on Feb. 26. … Matthews boasts a team-leading four multiple-RBI games, one more than Buerkle, Barry, Kinne, and Slowiak. … Matthews and Slowiak each own a single-season and career-high five-RBI game—Matthews driving in five in his first collegiate game against MSOE on Feb. 26, while Slowiak equaled that feat in Game 2 against MSOE on Feb. 26. … Brown and Eli Morrison (Minneapolis, Minn.) have logged a team-high 16.1 innings on the mound this season. Austin Jacobs (Cannon Falls, Minn. / 15.1 IP), Jesse Barron ( / 13.2 IP), and Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn. / 11.1 IP) have also thrown more than 10 innings this season. … Josh Hottinger (Oconomowoc, Wis.) leads the staff with a 3-0 record and a 1.93 ERA, with Barron close behind with a 1.98 ERA. … Brown and Jacob Taschetta (Winfield, Ill.) each earned their first collegiate pitching wins during the Cardinals' spring trip—Taschetta struck out four in 2.1 innings of relief in Saint Mary's win over Finlandia on March 1, while Brown went the first four innings, striking out a career-high eight, in beating MSOE on Feb. 26. … The Cardinals have scored 10 or more runs five times this season, including a season-high 19 in a 19-4 win over Finlandia on March 1. … Saint Mary's is 7-1 when leading after the sixth inning. … The Cardinals are 6-3 when scoring first, and 7-2 when scoring in the first inning.  … Saint Mary's made its fourth conference tournament appearance in the last five years under coach Nick Winecke in 2016, falling to Saint John's 11-4 in the MIAC Playoff title game. … The Cardinals finished with a 27-15-1 overall record—marking the third time under coach Nick Winecke that they have won 20 or more games in a season. … Saint Mary's 27 wins are the most since 1992, when the Cardinals finished 28-7.
 
Scouting The Viterbo V-Hawks:
2017 Roster | 2017 Statistics | 2017 Schedule
• After opening the season with 15 straight losses, the V-Hawks have won two of their last three. … The V-Hawks 13-6 win over Asbury on March 17 snapped their season-opening 15-game losing streak. … Viterbo has given up 10 or more runs in eight of its 18 games this season, including a season-high 16 in a 16-1 loss to Mayville State on March 1. … Following Wednesday's game against Saint Mary's—the V-Hawks' 19^th straight road game—Viterbo will play its next eight games at home. … Mannie De La Rosa is the V-Hawks' offensive leader, hitting a team-best .380, while also leading the squad in at-bats (50), hits (19), doubles (5), RBIs (8), walks (7), on-base percentage (.467), and slugging percentage (.480). … Brett Slavinsky (.333), Jacob Stephenson (.313), and D.J. Wilson (.313) are also hitting above .300 for the V-Hawks through 18 games. … Ethan Bell has accounted for three of the team's four triples, while Wilson owns the V-Hawks' lone home run. … Viterbo boasts five pitchers who have logged 14 or more innings this season—Max Verdegan (19.0 IP), Brian McGill (14.2 IP), Colton Andersen (14.2 IP), John Costello (14.2 IP), and Connor Kokott (14.0 IP). … Verdegan (0-3, 4.26 ERA), McGill (1-3, 6.75 ERA), Austin Stibbe (0-0, 10.50 ERA), and D.J. Raasch (0-2, 18.00 ERA) have all made a team-high five pitching appearances. … Verdegan owns a team-best 16 strikeouts. … Viterbo has been outscored 51-14 in the second and third innings combined. … The V-Hawks have been held to two runs or less in eight of their 16 losses, and are just 1-15 when scoring less than six runs. … Viterbo has not won (0-12) when trailing after the sixth inning.