COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — After managing just one run on three hits in the first game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Gustavus on Wednesday, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team was looking for a little Game 1 offensive spark against Saint John's.
 
A four-run first inning—highlighted by a three-run home run by Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.)—certainly should have done the trick.
 
Should have.
 
The Johnnies, however, had other ideas, answering the Cardinals' four run first with four runs of their own in the bottom of the first—before erupting for eight runs in the second—en route to a 16-8 Game 1 victory.
 
It was another four-run inning that proved to be the difference in the nightcap as well, as the Johnnies scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning—erasing a 4-1 Saint Mary's lead—and leading SJU to a sweep-clinching 5-4 win over Saint Mary's at Becker Park.
 
The Cardinals came out swinging in the opener. Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.)_ led off the game with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on an RBI single from Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.). Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) followed with a single, and, after Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) lined out to right and Zach Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) grounded out to second, Barry launched a home run to right field to give Saint Mary's the early 4-0 advantage.
 
An advantage that did not last long.
 
SJU delivered six hits—all singles—in scoring its four first-inning runs, before collecting seven hits—again all singles—in plating eight more runs to grab a 12-4 lead.
 
The Johnnies tacked on two more runs in the fourth to make it 14-4, but Saint Mary's answered with an RBI groundout by Buerkle and a sacrifice fly by Kinne. Saint John's recorded another two-run inning in the sixth, and the Cardinals again answered with two in the seventh, but it was too little, too late.
 
Matthews and Buerkle each had two hits to pace the Cardinals' 10-hit offensive attack, with Seegers, Kinne, Barry, Chris Bartosz (Woodridge, Ill.), Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.), and Dixon Irwin (Red Wing, Minn.) all adding one hit each.
 
After spotting the Johnnies a 1-0 lead in Game 2—thanks to a Derek Schiebel sacrifice fly in the first—the Cardinals took their first lead of the game in the fourth. Matthews opened the inning with a double, and, two outs later scored on an RBI double by Slowiak. Barry followed with a single to move Slowiak to third and Bartosz delivered a run-scoring single to plate Slowiak and give Saint Mary's a 2-1 lead.
 
The Cardinals padded their lead to 4-1 with single runs in the fifth and sixth—the first in a Buerkle RBI groundout and the second on Barry's second home run of the afternoon, a solo shot in the sixth.
 
Saint Mary's clung to that three-run advantage until the bottom of the eighth, when the Johnnies' erupted for four runs—including one on a bases-loaded hit batsman, another on a passed ball, and two more on Blake Langerud's single up the middle.
 
Slowiak and Barry each finished with two hits in the Cardinals' nine-hit Game 2 offensive attack, while Seegers, Matthews, Buerkle, Bartosz, and Costello all had one hit.
 
The Cardinals (1-3 MIAC, 11-12 overall) are back in action—and back on the road—on Tuesday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. showdown against St. Thomas.