By EMILY LOOF
Saint Mary's Sports Information Intern
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team's homecoming at Max Molock field has been a long time coming.
 
But the Cardinals made it worth the wait, completing their second straight Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference sweep with a pair of convincing wins against Carleton Monday afternoon.
 
Over the weekend, Saint Mary's swept Gustavus, winning 3-2 in Game 1 and 15-6 in Game 2—and that offensive dominance continued Carleton, as the Cardinals secured a 3-1 victory in Game 1 and a 13-1 rout in Game 2.
 
Pitcher Eli Morison (Minneapolis, Minn.), who pitched his first collegiate complete game, held the Knights to just one run on six hits in the opener. Morrison was the third Cardinal to pitch a complete game in the last three doubleheaders, joining Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.), who earned his on April 10 against St. Thomas, and James Green (East Bethel, Minn.), recorded his Saturday against Gustavus.
 
The Knights opened the scoring in Game 1, scoring what proved to be their lone run in the top of the first inning. But Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) answered right back for the Cardinals with an RBI double to tie the game at 1-1.
 
The Cardinals and Knights also remained deadlocked until the fifth, when the Cardinals got their offense jump-started again. Andy Tepp (Stephens Point, Wis.) delivered a run-scoring to plate Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) and give the Cardinals their first lead, 2-1.
 
After holding the Knights scoreless again in the top of the sixth, the Cardinals extended their lead to 3-1 on a pinch-hit single by Connor Cornell (Plymouth, Minn.) that scored Barry. The Cardinals would see another single in the inning by Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.), but were unable to convert and entered the final inning holding a two-run lead.
 
The Knights made things interesting in the top of the seventh, as Morrison walked Logan Crowl, and Josh Small pushed him to second with a single. But the Cardinal junior left-handed induced a third-to-first double play to seal the complete-game win.
 
Tepp led the Cardinal offense in Game 1 with two hits, while Cornell, Costello, and Barry each chipped in one.
 
As close as Game 1 was, the nightcap saw an eruption of offense for the Cardinals, who scored in every inning but the seventh—in which they did not bat.
 
R.J. Brown (Broadview, Ill.) pitched an impressive five innings, allowing five hits and no runs. In fact, it was the second dominating performance for Brown against the Knights. In his last outing against Carleton a year ago, the senior right-hander pitched his second no-hitter of the season.
 
In the lead-off spot for the Cardinals, Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.) opened the bottom of the first in the second game with a single to right field, and advanced to second when Tepp added a single of his own. Seegers was then tagged out on a Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) single, but Tepp scored the game's first run one batter later, thanks to a Carleton throwing error on a single by Zack Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Wis.).
 
The Cardinals' first-inning antics weren't over, either, as Weinberg scored on a balk to extend the lead to 2-0.
The Cardinals picked up single runs in the second and third—the first on an RBI groundout by Tepp and the second when Barry scored on a wild pitch to push the Saint Mary's lead to 4-0.
 
Saint Mary's put the game out of reach in the fourth—erupting for five runs. Weinberg belted a triple to score Seegers with the Cardinals' first run of the inning, and Barry followed with a single to score Weinberg. After a Slowiak single, Cornell doubled to score both Barry and Slowiak, ending Riley's night and bringing in Knights' reliever Liam Howe.
 
The Cardinals were not kind to Howe, however, as Matthews doubled to score Cornell—and when the dust finally settled, the Cardinals entered the fifth inning holding a commanding 9-0 lead.
 
Saint Mary's tacked on another run in the fifth when Seegers walked, advanced to second on a Tepp groundout, and later scored on a single by pinch-hitter Liam Belliveau (Middleton, Wis.).
 
The Cardinals replaced Brown with Kodey Kiel (Medford, Minn.) to begin the sixth inning and allowed one hit in one inning of relief. Jack Nelson (Portage, Wisc.) replaced Kiel in the seventh and allowed one hit and one run.
 
The Knights switched pitchers three times in the bottom of the sixth—but it didn't help.
 
David French (Winona, Minn.), pinch-hitting for Costello, singled to score Bailey Melz (Excelsior, Minn.), while Mitchell Feyereisen (River Falls, Wis.) added a pinch-hit double to score pinch-runner Jacob Sandstrom (Altoona, Wis.), and Jordan Albrecht (Tomah, Wis.) added another pinch-hit, RBI double to put the Cardinals ahead 13-0.
 
The Knights would finally get on the board in the seventh inning on a double by Matt Rubin, but that would be the lone Carleton highlight, as Nelson closed out the inning without allowing another hit. 
 
Four Cardinals had two hits each in the Game 2 win—Seegers, Barry, Slowiak, and Matthews—while 13 different players collected hits in the nightcap.
 
The Cardinals (4-1 MIAC, 10-10 overall) are back on road on Wednesday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a doubleheader against Macalester. Game 1 is slated for 2:30 p.m. start.