COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, as the Cardinals travel to Saint John's Becker Park for a 1 p.m. doubleheader against the Johnnies.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-1 MIAC, 11-10 Overall) at Saint John's Johnnies (2-2 MIAC, 11-7 Overall), 1 p.m.
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
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Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—April 5, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: It took the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team nearly nine innings to get its offense cranked up, but once they did, the Cardinals went from "slow" to "extra-fast" in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Gustavus at Max Molock Field. The Cardinals, who managed just one run in dropping the opening game to the Gusties 5-1—and plated just one run through the first two innings of the nightcap—erupted for nine runs over the next six innings en route to an 11-7 victory and a key conference split | Recap
• Saint John's—April 5, 2017 * Collegeville, Minn.: Saint John's rode two strong pitching performances from sophomores Jake Dickmeyer and Tommy Auger in a pair of shutouts, 7-0 and 11-0, over Carleton | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Saint John's—A Year Ago:
• April 10, 2016 * Collegeville, Minn.: Tyler Lursen (Maple Grove, Minn.) launched a three-run home run in his first at-bat, before adding a grand slam home run in his final plate appearance against the Johnnies. Unfortunately, Lursen's two-home run, seven-RBI effort could only earn the Cardinals a split in their two games against the Johnnies. Fueled by Lursen's first home run of the day, Saint Mary's rode a four-run first-inning to a 5-2 victory in the opener. Lursen completed his first collegiate two-home run game—with his first collegiate grand slam—as part of a five-run ninth inning in the nightcap, but it was not enough, as Saint John's held on for an 8-6 Game 2 win to earn the split | Recap
• May 13, 2016 * Collegeville, Minn.: With the Cardinals leading 2-1 heading to the top of the eighth inning in the teams' MIAC Playoff winner's bracket contest, the Johnnies knotted the game at 2-2 in their half of the eighth, then launched their second ninth-inning home run in as many days, as Jack Stegora belted a Nathan Mathwig (Woodbury, Minn.) offering over the fence in right field for a two-run home run—and a 4-2 victory | Recap
• May 14, 2016 * Collegeville, Minn.: Saint Mary's proved to be its own worst enemy against Saint John's Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the MIAC Playoffs. And it could not have come at a worse time. The Cardinals committed five errors—leading to six unearned runs—as Saint John's completed a perfect 3-0 run through the double-elimination tournament with an 11-4 victory over Saint Mary's at Becker Park | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back on the road on Tuesday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. conference doubleheader against St. Thomas
• Saint John's: The Johnnies return to action on Tuesday, heading to CHS Field in St. Paul, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. MIAC twinbill against Hamline.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017 Roster | 2017 Statistics | 2017 Schedule
• With their 11-7 Game 2 win over Gustavus, the Cardinals snapped their two-game losing streak. … With their 14 hits in the nightcap against Gustavus Wednesday, the Cardinals have now recorded 10 or more hits in six of their last nine games, and 13 times in their 21 games this season. … Saint Mary's amassed a season-high 19 hits against Finlandia on March 1. … Zach Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) went 4-for-6 in the Cardinals' doubleheader against Gustavus Wednesday—collecting two hits in each game of the MIAC twinbill. … Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) and Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.) each chipped in three hits against the Gusties Wednesday, while Kinne also drove in three of the team's 11 Game 2 runs. … Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) enters Saturday's doubleheader against Saint John's hitting a team-best .487. He is one of eight Saint Mary's regulars with batting averages above .300—Slowiak (.370), Chris Bartosz (Woodbridge, Ill. / .360), Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn. / .357), Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill. / .353), Dirk Drohner (Plover, Wis. / .341), Seegers (.337), and Kinne (.329) are the others. … Buerkle also leads or shares the team lead in runs (25), hits (38), doubles (7), home runs (6), RBIs (20), total bases (65), slugging percentage (.833), walks (12), and on-base percentage (.565). … Buerkle, who had his season-opening 10-game hitting streak snapped against Wheaton on March 18, has been held off the base paths just once this season—failing to reach base in Game 1 against  last Sunday. … Buerkle, who owns at least one hit in 18 of the team's 21 games, has collected at least one hit in 127 of the 139 games he's played in, while reaching base safely in 135 of those 139 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 career hits. With his 38 hits through 21 games, Buerkle owns 218 career hits, just two shy of the school record, held by Willie Doll. … Buerkle launched his team-leading sixth home run of the season in Game 2 against UW-Oshkosh last Sunday. … Saint Mary's has now belted 11 home runs this season—with Buerkle (6) and Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill. / 4) accounting for 10 of them. … Matthews launched his first collegiate home run—a two-run, seventh-inning shot—against Aurora on March 17. … Seegers leads the team in at-bats (86) and shares the team lead in doubles (7) with Buerkle, while Matthews is the team's leader in triples (2) and is second in RBIs (17). … Buerkle and Matthews are two of five Cardinals with 10 or more RBIs—Kinne (16), Slowiak (13), and Barry (10) are the others. … Saint Mary's is 35-for-45 in stolen base attempts, led Buerkle (9), Seegers (8), and Kinne (6). … Buerkle leads the team with 13 multiple-hit games—including a season-high four-hit effort in Game 2 against MSOE on Feb. 26. … Buerkle also boasts a team-leading six multiple-RBI games, two more than Kinne and Matthews. … 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. … 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 (2-1, 2.73 ERA) has logged a team-high 26.1 innings on the mound, while Eli Morrison (Minneapolis, Minn. / 2-3, 4.56 ERA, 25.2 IP), Austin Jacobs (Cannon Falls, Minn. / 1-3, 4.32 ERA, 25.0 IP), and Jesse Barron (Minnetonka, Minn. / 1-1, 2.22 ERA, 24.1 IP) have also logged over 20 innings this season. … Josh Hottinger (Oconomowoc, Wis.) leads the staff with a 3-0 record, while Barron's 2.22 ERA is tops among Cardinal regulars. … 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. … Jacobs and Nathan Mathwig (Woodbury, Minn.) share the team lead with eight pitching appearances. … Mathwig picked up his team-leading second save in last Sunday's 4-1 win over UW-Oshkosh, while Jacobs and Bartosz own the team's other two saves. … Brown leads the staff with 23 strikeouts—including a career-high eight against Milwaukee School of Engineering on Feb. 26. … Saint Mary's has scored 138 runs—and have plated at least one run in all 21 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. … Saint Mary's is 10-3 when leading after the sixth inning. … The Cardinals are 8-6 when scoring first, and 9-4 when scoring in the first inning. … The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 26-9 in the first inning and 28-11 in the sixth. … Saint Mary's has surrendered just four second-inning runs this season. … 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 Saint John's Johnnies:
2017 Roster | 2017 Statistics | 2017 Schedule
• Saturday's doubleheader against Saint Mary's is the third straight twinbill for the Johnnies—who dropped two to Bethel (1-0, 12-5) and swept Carleton (7-0 and 11-0), in their first four games at Becker Park this season. … Wyatt Ulrich went 5-for-7 against Carleton Wednesday, while Dominick Schleper and Brennan Swan combined to go 6-for-14 with three hits apiece for the Johnnies. Schleper also scored four times and Swan collected three RBIs. … Ulrich enters this weekend's showdown against Saint Mary's hitting a team-best .541 and is one of four Johnnies regulars hitting above .300—Swan (.500), Jeron Terres (.333), and Thomas Meland (.333) are the others. … Terres leads the team in at-bats (60), hits (23), doubles (5), RBIs (12), and total bases (28). … Ulrich owns the team lead in runs (11) and slugging percentage (.649), while Swan boasts team-highs in walks (6) and one-base percentage (.614). … The Johnnies are 17-for-19 in stolen base attempts, led by Terres and Blake Langerud (.293) with five each. … Ulrich owns a team-leading eight multiple-hit games, while he and Swan share the team lead with three multiple-hit games. … With his hits in both games against Carleton Wednesday, Ulrich pushed his team- and season-high hitting streak to nine straight. … Jake Dickmeyer improved to 3-0 with his win in Game 1 against Carleton Wednesday. The sophomore allowed just three hits over six innings, lowering his team-leading ERA to 1.08. … Tommy Auger went the distance in earning the pitching win in Game 2 vs. the Knights, scattering eight hits—all singles—en route to his first collegiate pitching win. … Nick Noack (1-1, 2.00 ERA) has tossed a team-high 27.0 innings in four appearances—all starts—while Dickmeyer (3-0, 1.08 ERA, 25.0 IP) and Alex Kendall (2-2, 2.70 ERA, 20.0 IP) have also logged 20 or more innings on the mound for SJU this season. … Ben Etzell (0-0, 4.63 ERA) has made a team-leading seven pitching appearances, while Dickmeyer, Noack, and Kendall share the team lead with four starts. … Auger (1-0, 1.89 ERA) and Etzell have collected the Johnnies' two saves this season. … Saint John's boasts five pitchers with 10 or more strikeouts, led by Noack (18), Kendall (16), and Etzell (15). … The Johnnies, who have scored 92 runs this season, have plated 10 or more runs in a game twice—including a season-high 11 runs in Wednesday's 11-0 Game 2 victory over Carleton. … The Johnnies have limited their opponents to five runs or less in 10 of their 11 wins. … SJU is 10-3 when scoring first, and 6-3 when scoring in the first inning. … Saint John's is unbeaten (10-0) when leading after the sixth inning, but are 0-6 when trailing heading into the seventh.