By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
CAROL STREAM, Ill. — It was a game of big innings when the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota and Concordia baseball teams squared off in a nine-inning nonconference contest Friday afternoon.
 
Unfortunately, while the Cardinals may have had the bigger, big inning — a five-run sixth — it was the Cobbers who had more of them, scoring three times in the first and four times in the ninth, before breaking a 7-7 deadlock with two runs in the 11^th in dealing Saint Mary's a 9-7 setback.
 
The Cardinals did not waste any time getting on the scoreboard, scoring a solo run in their first at-bat — thanks to a bases-loaded, one-out single by Liam Belleveau (Middleton, Wis.), scoring Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.), who had Saint Mary's other single in the two-hit inning.
 
The lead did not last long, however, as the Cobbers answered Saint Mary's one-run inning with three unearned runs of their own in the top of the second. Concordia loaded the bases on a lead-off double, a one-out walk, and a two-out single, before scoring their first run on a Cardinal throwing error. A bases-loaded walk plated run No. 2, and Billy Lynch delivered a run-scoring single to give CC a 3-1 cushion.
 
For the second inning in a row, Saint Mary's loaded the bases in the second on back-to-back one-out walks and an infield single by Piechowski. One out later, Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.) drew a walk to score Zach Drake (Westby, Wis.) and pull the Cardinals within one, 3-2.
 
After coming up empty in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, the Cardinals finally took control in the sixth — thanks in large part to one swing of Andy Tepp's (Stevens Point, Wis.) bat.
 
Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) kicked things off for Saint Mary's in the sixth, reaching on one-out Cobber fielding error, moving to second on a single by pinch-hitter Connor Cornell (Plymouth, Minn.), and scoring on Justin Weinberg's (Eagan, Minn.) run-scoring single to center to knot the game at 3-3. Piechowski was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Tepp laced a bases-clearing triple to give the Cardinals a 6-3 lead. Tepp would then score SMU's fifth run of the inning on Concordia's second error of the frame.
 
Saint Mary's threatened again in the seventh, but Weinberg — who had laced a one-out double — was thrown out at the plate on a Tepp two-out single to center to keep it a 7-3 game.
 
Down by four heading to the ninth, the Cobbers would not throw in the towel, as they welcomed Cardinal reliever Jake Kramlinger (White Bear Lake, Minn.) with three straight one-out singles — including a run-scoring shot up the middle by Lynch — to cut the Saint Mary's lead to three, 7-4.
 
And they weren't finished.
 
A sacrifice pop-out to short by Austin Ver Steeg and a two-run single to right-center by Max Boran pulled Concordia even, 7-7 — and sent the game into extra innings.
 
After a scoreless 10th, Concordia struck in the 11th, scoring a pair of unearned runs — the first on a Cardinal throwing error and the second on a two-out, pinch-hit single by Reece Kramer — to give the Cobbers a 9-7 advantage.
 
And just as Concordia did in the ninth, the Cardinals would not go down without a fight in the bottom of the 11th — getting a lead-off double from Hunter Gustafson (Webster, Wis.), followed by a walk to Dixon Irwin (Red Wing, Minn.). Costello sacrificed pinch-runners Taylor Anderson (Waukesha, Wis.) and Tyler O'Brien (Belle Plaine, Minn.) to second and third, but pinch-hitter Kody Kiel (Owatonna, Minn.) grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat — and the game.
 
Weinberg and Irwin led the Cardinals' 14-hit attack, each going 3-for-5, while Tepp finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs, and Piechowski and Belleveau also chipped in two hits. Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) went the first eight innings on the mound, allowing three runs — none earned — on six hits, while walking two and striking out six. Kramlinger suffered the loss, allowing six runs — four earned — on six hits with two walks and one strikeout 2 1/3 innings.
 
The Cardinals are right back at Lee Pfund Stadium at 2:45 p.m. on Friday, squaring off against Concordia-Chicago in their second nine-inning nonconference game of the day.