By Donny Nadeau
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ST. PETER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Thursday, traveling to Gustavus for a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader against the Gusties.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (5-9 MIAC, 12-20 Overall) at Gustavus Gusties (5-11 MIAC, 9-21 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—April 24, 2018 * Eau Claire, Wis.: The Cardinals got a clutch two-run, sixth-inning double—not to mention a complete-game pitching performance—from Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.) en route to a 4-3, Game 2 win over UW-Eau Claire. The Blugolds dealt the Cardinals an 8-2 setback in the opener of their nonconference doubleheader | Recap
• Gustavus—April 24, 2018 * St. Peter, Minn.: The Gusties dropped a pair of one-run games at Hollingsworth Field, falling to St. Olaf 4-3 in the opener and 1-0 in the nightcap of their MIAC doubleheader | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Gustavus—Their Last Meeting:
• April 13, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: Gustavus erupted for three innings in the fifth inning—and that proved to be the difference­—as the Gusties handed the Cardinals a 4-1 loss in the opener of the teams' conference doubleheader at the Saint Mary's Field. The Gusties picked up right where they left off in the nightcap, scoring in each of the first three innings in completing the sweep with a 5-0 Game 2 win | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, hosting Concordia in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at the Saint Mary's Field.
• Gustavus: The Gusties are back in action on Friday, traveling to Minneapolis, Minn., for a 4 p.m. conference twinbill against Augsburg at Edor Nelson Field.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• With their 4-3, Game 2 win over UW-Eau Claire, the Cardinals put an end to their three-game losing streak. … Including Tuesday's win over UW-Eau Claire, Saint Mary's has now scored four runs in each of their last five victories—4-0 vs. St. Olaf, 5-1 and 4-2 vs. Macalester, 4-1 vs. Augsburg, and 4-3 vs. UW-Eau Claire. … The Cardinals' six hits in Game 1 against UW-Eau Claire Tuesday came from six different players, while Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill.) was the only player with two hits in Saint Mary's seven-hit Game 2 attack. … Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) enters the Cardinals DH against Gustavus leading the team with a .369 batting average. Birkhauser is one of three Cardinal regulars boasting batting averages above .300—Shayley Vesel (Austin, Minn. / .320) and Paige Gudmundson (Plainview, Minn. / .315) are the other two. … Along with her team-leading batting average, Birkhauser also owns team-highs in runs (22), hits (38), doubles (8), triples (1), home runs (3), RBIs (22), total bases (57), slugging percentage (.553), and on-base percentage (.416). … Birkhauser launched her third home run of the season—a two-run shot in the Cardinals' Game 2 win over St. Olaf on April 4. … All three of Birkhauser's home runs this season have been two-run efforts. Along with her two-run bomb against St. Olaf, the senior also launched two-run round-trippers against Johnson & Wales on March 3 and against UW-River Falls on March 29. … Borawski became the only player besides Birkhauser to hit a home run this season with her round-tripper against Hamline on April 8. Borawski's second-inning bomb was not only her first of the season, but also the first of her collegiate career. … Borawski is second to Birkhauser in RBIs with 18. … Gudmundson owns a team-high 111 at-bats, and is second to Birkhauser in hits (35), and total bases (35). … Justine Schultz (Winona, Minn. / .287) is second to Birkhauser in runs (21) and doubles (5) and leads the team with 12 walks. … The Cardinals boast five players—Gudmundson, Schultz, Vesel, Chow, and Tara Nikolich (Chicago, Ill.)—who have collected their first collegiate hits this season. … Gudmundson was held hitless in Game 1 against UW-La Crosse on March 27, snapping the freshman's season-opening 10-game hitting streak. … Gudmundson, who equaled her single-game career-high with three hits in the opener vs. UW-River Falls on March 29, leads the team with 10 multiple-hit games—one more than Birkhauser—while Birkhauser boasts a team-leading six multiple-RBI games, two more than Vesel, Borawski and Aldrich. … Birkhauser has put together two, 4-for-4 performances this season—collecting four hits in four at-bats against both UW-River Falls on March 29 and vs. St. Olaf on April 4. …  Vesel recorded two hits in both of the Cardinals' games against Macalester on April 12, while also driving in five of Saint Mary's eight runs—including her first collegiate three-RBI game in the 4-2 win in Game 2. … Chow and Amber Trendle (Chicago, Ill.) each notched their first collegiate shutouts in the Cardinals' sweep of St. Olaf on April 4—Chow tossed a five-hit shutout in Game 1, while Trendle limited the Oles to just two hits in the Game 2 shutout. … Chow collected her first collegiate pitching win and her first collegiate save on Saint Mary's spring trip. The freshman tossed a complete-game, eight-hitter with three strikeouts in the Cardinals' 4-2 win over Johnson & Wales on Feb. 28. Chow also limited Rose-Hulman to just one hit in 2.1 innings of relief to preserve Saint Mary's 3-2 win. … Chow (7-10, 3.35 ERA) leads the team with 110.2 innings pitched, with Trendle (5-8, 5.07 ERA) close behind with 85.2 IP. … Signey Stoesz (Mountain Lake, Minn. / 0-2, 3.82 ERA) has chipped in 18.1 innings in the pitcher's circle. … Chow has recorded 10 of the staff's 15 complete games and also owns both Cardinal saves. … Saint Mary's 13 runs in beating Adrian 13-12 on March 1 was the highest offensive performance by the Cardinals since the 2015 season, when SMU scored 13 runs twice and a season-high 14 runs in a 14-5 win over Carleton. … Saint Mary's nine runs in its 10-9 Game 1 loss to UW-River Falls on March 29 were the most runs scored in a loss since falling to Hamline 10-9 on April 23, 2016. … Saint Mary's is 11-1 when leading after six innings, but are just 1-14 when tied or trailing heading into the seventh inning. … The Cardinals are 9-6 when scoring first, while going 3-14 when their opponent scores first. … Saint Mary's is 7-6 in games decided by two runs or less—including 4-4 in one-run games. … With their 4-3 Game 1 loss to Augsburg on April 21, the Cardinals have now played four extra-inning games this season—beating Adrian 13-12 in eight innings, while falling to Augustana 8-7, also in eight innings, and losing to No. 5 Luther (3-2) and Augsburg (4-3) in nine innings. … The Cardinals' 1-0, 4-0 sweep of the St. Olaf on April 4 marked the first time since 2016 that SMU has posted back-to-back shutouts—Saint Mary's blanked Wartburg (9-0) and John Carroll (8-0) on Feb. 28, 2016. It was also the first time the Cardinals have blanked an MIAC opponent in both games of a doubleheader since shutting out Concordia (4-0, 1-0) on April 26, 2014.
 
Scouting The Gustavus Gusties:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• With Tuesday's losses to St. Olaf, the Gusties saw their losing streak climb to four straight. … GAC has been outscored 18-3 during its current four-game slide—including three losses by shutout. … Kim Kurtzweg had two of Gustavus' four hits in Game 1 against St. Olaf Tuesday, while the Gusties managed just three hits—from Aly Freeman, Sidney Welp, and Taylor Shortly—in the 1-0 Game 2 loss. … Ashley Neuenfeldt enters Thursday's conference doubleheader against Saint Mary's leading the Gusties with a .359 batting average. She is one of three GAC players hitting .300 or better—Welp (.312) and Emily Webb (.300) are the other two. … Along with her .312 batting average, Welp leads the Gusties in at-bats (93), runs (17), hits (28), triples (3), total bases (43), and slugging percentage (.462). … Welp is joined by Neuenfeldt (28) and Webb (27) as the three Gusties with 20 or more hits this season. … Webb shares the team lead in doubles (7) with Freeman (.243) and owns a team-high 19 RBIs. … Gustavus has hit six home runs this season, from six different players—Welp, Webb, Freeman, Emily Carlson (.230), Sarah Pederson (.224), and Caitlin Kammerer (.175). … Gustavus is 30-for-37 in the stolen base department, led by Webb, who is a perfect 7-for-7. … Neuenfeldt has put together a team-high nine multiple-hit games, and Webb owns a team-best four multiple-RBI performances. … Welp put together a season-high eight-game hitting streak earlier this year, but Freeman's four-game run is the longest active streak. … Neuenfeldt has been the workhorse in the pitcher's circle for the Gusties, throwing 109.2 of the team's 195.2 innings. … Neuenfeldt (7-14, 4.40 ERA) has made a team-high 24 appearances—including 23 starts—and owns eight of the team's 10 complete games. … Freeman (1-7, 4.30 ERA) has thrown 58.2 innings in 16 pitching appearances, while Ariel Debeer (1-0, 6.15 ERA) has thrown 27.1 innings in 16 outings. … Neuenfeldt has struck out a team-leading 70 batters, followed by Freeman with 31 Ks and Debeer with 10. … Gustavus has been outscored in every inning but the eighth this season—including 37-5 in the third. … GAC is 7-1 when leading after the sixth inning, but the Gusties are just 1-15 when tied or trailing heading into the seventh. … Gustavus is 5-4 in games decided by two runs or less, but is 3-12 in games decided by five or more runs. … The Gusties have been held to two runs or less in 16 of their 21 losses this season. … Gustavus has scored 10 or more runs twice—beating the University of Dubuque (12-6) and Stevens Institute (11-3)—but the Gusties have also surrendered 10 or more runs six times.