By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
CORAL SPRINGS, Ill. — The last time Saint Mary's University of Minnesota's R.J. Brown (Broadview, Ill.) faced Aurora, the then-junior tossed a seven-inning, complete-game no-hitter—the first of his two no-hitters on the season a year ago.
 
The right-hander was back on the mound against the Spartans on Friday.
 
Unfortunately, his bid for a second straight no-hitter against the Spartans lasted just two batters—and his hopes of another shutout against AU ended in the fifth—as Aurora erupted for three runs in the fifth in dealing the Cardinals a 4-0 nonconference setback at Lee Pfund Stadium.
 
After giving up a one-out double in the first, Brown retired the next 11 Spartans he faced—only to run into trouble in the fifth.
 
Brown walked the first two batters he faced, and, after a ground out to third advanced the runners to second and third, back-to-back singles by A.J. Gill and Colin Rivard plated the game's first two runs.
 
Brown appeared to work out of the inning with no more damage, inducing a fly-out to right for out No. 2, but a pair of wild pitches—including a third-strike wild pitch that allowed Jett Wedekind to reach first and Gill to score—pushed the Spartans' lead to 3-0.
 
The Cardinals had more than their fair share of scoring opportunities, but could not come up with the clutch hit—stranding 14 runners on base in the nine-inning contest.
 
After collecting six hits through the first five innings—one in the first, two in the second, two in the fourth and another in the fifth—the Cardinals threatened in the sixth, getting a one-out double by Zach Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Wis.), followed by a walk to Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.). Both would be stranded, however, as Aurora pitcher Stockman got pinch-hitter Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) to line out to first and Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) to strike out swinging to end the threat.
 
Saint Mary's threatened again in the seventh—sandwiching walks to Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) and Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.) around a Jake Mencacci (Wheaton, Ill.) strikeout—but the two were again stranded, as Chris Roycroft—on in relief of Stockman—ended the inning with a pair of fly ball outs.
 
And it was more of the same in the eighth, as Slowiak led off the inning with a walk, and Matthews followed with an infield single to put runners on first and second with no one out. A two-out walk to Connor Cornell (Plymouth, Minn.) loaded the bases, but Roycroft wiggled out of the jam by getting Mencacci to fly out to right.
 
The Spartans pushed their lead to 4-0, getting a two-out double by Jeff Mayes off reliever Nathan Mathwig (Woodbury, Minn.) in the top of the ninth, and for the fourth straight inning, the Cardinals put a runners on first and second with less than two outs—this time on a Spartan error and a walk to Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.)—but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat, and the game.
 
Matthews and Barry led the Cardinals' offensive attack, each collecting two hits to account for four of the team's eight hits.
 
The Cardinals (4-7 overall) are back in action Friday evening, squaring off against Wheaton (Ill.) in a nine-inning contest at Lee Pfund Stadium. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m.