By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
AUBURNDALE, Fla. — For the third time in as many games, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team proved to be very stingy when it came to allowing runs Tuesday afternoon—limiting Cabrini to just three runs in the teams' nine-inning nonconference game.
Unfortunately three runs runs proved to be more than enough, as the Cavaliers were even more stingy than the Cardinals, holding Saint Mary's to just a single, sixth-inning run in deal SMU a 3-1 setback at Lake Myrtle Field.
The Cardinals—who held Milwaukee School of Engineering to just one run in sweeping the Raiders 9-1 and 2-0 on Monday—could not get their offense on track against Cabrini.
And before Saint Mary's finally plated their first run the Cavaliers had already scored three times—once in the fourth and twice in the fifth—to grab a 3-0 advantage.
Saint Mary's appeared to have a big inning in the works in the sixth, but could only push one run across.
Zach Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) delivered a one-out single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and, after
Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) walked, Connor Cornell (Plymouth, Minn.) singles to load the bases. The Cavaliers' second wild pitch of the inning plated Slowiak, and Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) followed with a walk to reload the bases, but Cabrini relief pitcher Matt Dobeck induced
Bailey Melz (Excelsior, Minn.) into an inning-ending double play to end the threat.
Slowiak and Cornell each finished with three hits to account for six of the Cardinals' eight hits, while
Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) and
Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) picking up the other two. Making his first collegiate start, Jonathan Cieminski (Fountain City, Wis.) took the loss on the mound for the Cardinals, allowing three runs—all earned—on just two hits and striking out five in 4 1/3 innings.
The Cardinals (2-3 overall) are now off until Thursday, when they square off against Rose-Hulman in a 4 p.m. (EST) nine-inning contest in Auburndale, Fla.
