By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The last time the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team was in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs, the Cardinals made a run all the way to the tournament's title game.
The Cardinals—back in the post-season after a one-year hiatus—took the field Thursday afternoon against Gustavus with their sights set on another deep playoff run.
Gustavus' Cole Pengilly, however, had other ideas.
The Gustie freshman went 4-for-5 and drove in four of GAC's five runs, as Gustavus dealt the Cardinals a 5-2, elimination-game loss at CHS Field.
"It was one of those games," said Saint Mary's coach
Nick Winecke, whose Cardinals closed out the season with a 19-17 overall record. "We had more than our share of chances—we just couldn't come up with a big hit when we needed it.
"But you have to tip you cap to Gusties, they got some big hits at crucial times, and that was the difference."
Following a pair of scoreless innings, Pengilly struck for the first time in the third, lacing a two-out, bases-loaded, two-run single off Cardinal starter
James Green (East Bethel, Minn.), to give Gustavus a 2-0 advantage.
After failing to get to Gustavus starter Adam Stockwell in the first two innings, the Cardinals collected their first hit of the afternoon—a one-out
Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) double—in the third. Stockwell, however, induced a
Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.) pop-out to second and got
Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) to foul out down the right-field line to squash the threat.
Green returned to form in the fourth, setting down the Gusties in order—including a pair of strikeouts. The Cardinals collected their second hit of the afternoon, a lead-off single by
Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) in their half of the fourth, but again Saint Mary's failed to push a run across.
Pengilly struck again in the fifth, driving in his third run with a two-out single to pad the Gustavus lead to 3-0. This time around, however, the Cardinals had an answer—a two-run answer.
Dixon Irwin (Plover, Wis.) and
Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) opened the bottom of the fifth with back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third. Piechowski lifted a sacrifice fly to score Irwin, and Costello scored on a Gustie fielding error to cut the GAC lead to 3-2.
The Gusties posted their second two-run inning in the seventh, getting a single, hit batsman, and an intentional walk to load the bases—and chase Green. Pengilly welcomed reliever
Nathan Mathwig (Woodbury, Minn.) with a run-scoring single—his fourth RBI of the afternoon—and Brock Peterson followed with another single to score the Gusties' second run of the inning and make it a 5-2 GAC lead. Mathwig avoided any more damage, getting Matt Berkner to ground into a 6-4-3 double-play.
The Cardinals loaded the bases in both the seventh and eighth innings with two outs, but both times were unable to cut into the Gustie lead.
In the seventh, Irwin singled, Piechowski walked, and Seegers was hit by a pitch, but Tepp fouled out to end the threat. And in the eighth, Saint Mary's re-loaded the bases on back-to-back singles by
Zach Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) and
Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.) and a two-out walk to Irwin, only to have GAC reliever get got pinch-hitter
Connor Cornell (Plymouth, Minn.) to ground out to short to end the threat.
It was the Gusties who came up empty in a bases-loaded ninth, as Mathwig—working his third inning—induced a ground-out to third to keep the Cardinals within striking distance.
Piechowski opened the Saint Mary's ninth with a walk, but after a Seegers fly-out, Tepp grounded into an inning-, game-, and season-ending double play.
Irwin finished with a pair of hits in three at-bats to pace the Cardinals' seven-hit offensive attack, with Weinberg, Slowiak, Matthews, Costello, and Piechowski each chipping in one hit.
Green suffered the pitching loss, allowing three runs—only one of which was earned—on five hits, while walking three and striking out six. Mathwig worked the final 2 2/3 innings, holding the Gusties scoreless on five hits.
"Obviously, we were hoping for a different outcome, but this has been an awesome group to coach," said Winecke. "They came to the field every day ready to work hard and give everything they could—and from my standpoint as a coach, that's all I can ask for. This is just an awesome, awesome group of individuals."
