WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, as the Cardinals entertain Macalester in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Max Molock Field.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-7 MIAC, 13-16 Overall) vs. Macalester Scots (8-4 MIAC, 18-10 Overall), 1 p.m.
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats | GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—April 20, 2017 * Minneapolis, Minn.: In their conference twinbill against Augsburg Thursday at Parade Stadium, the Cardinals had to endure the agony of a walk-off defeat—twice. The Auggies broke a 1-1 tie with a two-out, bases-loaded single in the bottom of the seventh in handing Saint Mary's a 2-1 setback in the opener, before erupting for three runs in the bottom of the ninth to rally for a 7-6, come-from-behind win in the nightcap | Recap
• Macalester—April 21, 2017 * St. Paul, Minn.: The Scots pushed their winning streak to three straight, collecting a pair of conference wins over Gustavus—beating the Gusties 6-2 in the opener, and completing the sweep with a 4-3 victory | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Macalester—A Year Ago:
• April 23, 2016 * St. Paul, Minn.: The Cardinals erupted for 13 runs—their highest offensive output since beating Concordia 14-11 in their third game of the season—in cruising to a 13-7 win over Macalester in Game 1, before riding the eight-inning pitching performance of Austin Jacobs (Cannon Falls, Minn.) to a 6-4 Game 2 victory in a doubleheader originally scheduled to be played at the Scots' Nicholson Field in St. Paul, Minn., but shifted to Max Molock Field | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals hit the road on Tuesday, traveling to Northfield, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. conference doubleheader against Carleton.
• Macalester: The Scots return to Nicholson Field in St. Paul, Minn., on Sunday, as Macalester hosts UW-Superior in a 1 p.m. nonconference doubleheader.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017 Roster | 2017 Statistics | 2017 Schedule
• The Cardinals' two walk-off losses to Augsburg Thursday were the eighth and ninth games decided by one run this season. Saint Mary's is 3-6 in those nine one-run contests. … Last Monday's 7-6 Game 1 win over St. Olaf snapped the Cardinals' season-high four-game losing streak. … Saint Mary's scored as many runs against St. Olaf last Monday (16) as the Cardinals had in their previous four games combined (16). … The Cardinals' 7-6, 9-6 sweep of St. Olaf was their first DH sweep since opening the season with 15-3, 10-3 wins over Milwaukee School of Engineering on Feb. 26. … Saint Mary's five Game 1 hits against Augsburg Thursday came from five different players, while Chris Bartosz (Woodridge, Ill.) and Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) each had three hits to account for six of the Cardinals' eight Game 2 hits. … Bartosz has now recorded a combined six hits in the team's last three games. … All nine Cardinal starters had at least one hit in Saint Mary's 7-6 Game 1 win over St. Olaf last Monday. … Kinne delivered six RBIs against St. Olaf last Monday—launching a two-run 10^th-inning home run in the opener, before adding a pair of two-run doubles in the nightcap. … Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) and Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) each hit home runs against Augsburg Thursday—Buerkle's a solo shot in Game 1 and Barry's a two-run bomb in Game 2. … Barry has now hit a team-leading eight home runs, one more than Buerkle. The two have accounted for 15 of the team's 17 HRs. Kinne and Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.) have hit the other two. … Matthews launched his first collegiate home run—a two-run, seventh-inning shot—against Aurora on March 17. … Buerkle—the program's all-time hits leader with 227—enters the Cardinals' doubleheader against Macalester hitting a team-best .461. … Buerkle is one of just two Cardinals in program history with 200 or more career hits—Willie Doll is the other (220). … Buerkle is one of eight Saint Mary's regulars with batting averages above .300—Bartosz (.377), Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn. / .357), Dirk Drohner (Plover, Wis. / .341), Kinne (.333), Zach Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Wis. / .329), and Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill. / .320) are the others. … Buerkle also leads or shares the team lead in runs (32), hits (47), RBIs (25), total bases (80), slugging percentage (.784), walks (20)—including four against St. Olaf last Monday and three more vs. Augsburg on Thursday—and on-base percentage (.552). … Buerkle, who had his season-opening 10-game hitting streak snapped against Wheaton on March 18, has been held off the base paths just twice this season—failing to reach base in Game 1 against UW-Oshkosh on April 2 and in Game 2 vs. St. Thomas on April 13. … Buerkle, who owns at least one hit in 25 of the team's 29 games, has collected at least one hit in 134 of the 147 games he's played in, while reaching base safely in 142 of those 147 games. … Kinne owns the team lead in doubles with 11, one more than Buerkle and Slowiak. … Matthews is the team's leader in triples (2). … Kinne shares the team lead with Buerkle in RBIs with 25. … Saint Mary's is 46-for-59 in stolen base attempts, led by Buerkle (14), Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis. / (9), and Kinne (9). … Buerkle leads the team with 15 multiple-hit games—including a season-high four-hit effort in Game 2 against MSOE on Feb. 26. … Buerkle and Kinne share the team lead with seven multiple-RBI games. … 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. … Bartosz has the Cardinals' longest current active hitting streak, having hit safely in nine straight games. … R.J. Brown (Broadview, Ill.), who posted the Cardinals' first no-hitter in more than two decades in guiding Saint Mary's to a 10-0 win over Aurora on March 17, tossed seven more innings of no-hit ball in his next two appearances—three in a no-decision against Viterbo on March 22, and four in another no-decision against UW-La Crosse on March 29. The Eagles finally collected their first hit with a leadoff single to open the fifth, snapping Brown's streak of 14 hitless innings. … Brown tossed his second complete game of the season Thursday against Augsburg, allowing two runs on six hits in the 2-1 loss. … With his effort vs. Augsburg, Brown (2-3, 3.62 ERA) moved into the team lead in innings pitched with 37.1. … Brown is one of four Cardinal hurlers who have logged 30 or more innings this season—Eli Morrison (Minneapolis, Minn. / 2-4, 4.76 ERA, 34.0 IP), Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn. / 0-1, 5.01 ERA, 32.1 IP) and Jesse Barron (Minnetonka, Minn. / 2-2, 4.73 ERA, 32.1 IP) are the others. … Josh Hottinger (Oconomowoc, Wis. / 4-0, 5.91 ERA) picked up his team-leading fourth win of the season against St. Olaf last Monday. … Nathan Mathwig (Woodbury, Minn. / 1-2, 6.57 ERA) has made a team-leading 12 pitching appearances, one more than Austin Jacobs (Cannon Falls, Minn. / 1-3, 5.13 ERA). … Mathwig picked up his team-leading second save in the Cardinals' 4-1 win over UW-Oshkosh on April 2, while Jacobs and Bartosz own the team's other two saves. … Brown leads the staff with 33 strikeouts—including a career-high eight against Milwaukee School of Engineering on Feb. 26. … 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. … Saint Mary's has scored 177 runs—and have plated at least one run in all 29 games. … The Cardinals have scored 10 or more runs six times this season, including a season-high 19 in a 19-4 win over Finlandia on March 1. … The Cardinals have recorded 10 or more hits 15 times in their 29 games this season. … Saint Mary's amassed a season-high 19 hits against Finlandia on March 1. … Saint Mary's is 10-4 when leading after the sixth inning. … The Cardinals are 9-8 when scoring first, and 11-5 when scoring in the first inning. … The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 36-16 in the first inning and 33-19 in the sixth. … Saint Mary's 7-6, 10-inning win over St. Olaf Monday was its second extra-inning game of the season—the Cardinals also dropped a 13-inning affair—also by a 7-6 count—to Wartburg on Feb. 27.
 
Scouting The Macalester Scots:
2017 Roster | 2017 Statistics | 2017 Schedule
• Saturday's games against Saint Mary's are the second of three doubleheaders on three consecutive days for the Scots, who swept Gustavus on Friday, and will face UW-Superior on Sunday. … The Scots pushed their winning streak to three straight with their pair of wins against Gustavus Friday. … As a team, Macalester enters its showdown with Saint Mary's hitting .321. The Scots boast seven players—Alex Baretta (.402), Nick McMullen (.384), Jared Abelson (.379), Collin Brantner (.367), Ben Castagnetti (.342), Carl Francalangia (.316), and Quentin Stuart (.304)—who are hitting above .300. … McMullen leads or shares the team lead in at-bats (99), runs (27), hits (38), doubles (10), triples (2), home runs (4), RBIs (30), total bases (64), and slugging percentage (.646). … Macalester has three players—McMullen (38), Baretta (35), and Abelson (33)—with 30 or more hits. … The Scots have scored 206 runs, and have 10 players who have scored at least 10 times. … As a team, Macalester has hit 16 home runs led by McMullen and Stuart with four, and Graham Low (.208) with three. … McMullen has recorded 13 multiple-hit games, two more than Abelson and three in front of Baretta. … McMullen is also the team-leader with nine multiple-RBI games—including two games with four RBIs. … The trio of Cole Chang (3-2, 4.25 ERA, 36.0 IP), Dylan Edwards-Gaherty (3-1, 2.88 ERA, 34.1 IP), and Matthew Plisko (4-2, 2.25 ERA, 32.0 IP) have combined to log more than 100 innings pitched for the Scots this season. … Chang has made a team-high eight starts, and shares the team lead in appearances (8) with Edwards-Gaherty and McMullen (1-0, 2.25 ERA). … Plisko as throw three of the team's four complete games, while McMullen is the Scots' saves leader with three. … Edwards-Gaherty has struck out a team-leading 33 batters, while Plisko (24) and Chang (22) have also recorded more than 20 strikeouts this season. … Macalester has scored 10 or more runs nine times this season—including plating 19 runs against both Robert Morris (W, 19-6) and UW-Superior (W, 19-8), and a season-high 22-run effort in beating Augsburg 22-1.