By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
CAROL STREAM, Ill. — For the second time in as many games on Friday, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team squared off against a team from Concordia.
 
Unfortunately for coach Nick Winecke and the Cardinals, the second Concordia meeting ended in much the same way as the first — with a heartbreaking Saint Mary's setback.
 
Just hours after falling to Concordia-Moorhead 9-7 in 11 innings — in a game in which Saint Mary's led 7-3 heading into the top of the ninth inning — Concordia-Chicago dealt the Cardinals another late-game setback, scoring twice with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning in beating the Cardinals 5-4.
 
"Baseball can be a cruel game," said Saint Mary's coach Nick Winecke. "I thought we played well all day — there were just a few things that didn't go our way, and to be honest, that's baseball. In both games, we did some very, very good things, in the end, it just didn't go our way.

"It's disappointing to come up short in both games, but sometimes — even though you play well — you just can't catch a break."

For the second game in a row, the Cardinals scored in their first at-bat, plating a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first inning — including an RBI single by Connor Cornell (Plymouth, Minn.) — to grab a quick, 2-0 advantage.
 
The Cougars cut the Cardinals' lead in half in their first plate appearance, as Brody Mariotti laced a one-out James' Green (East Bethel, Minn.) offering for a ground-rule double, scoring Jose Mercado. The Saint Mary's right-hander work out of the jam, striking out the next two batters he faced to keep the Cardinals in the lead.
 
Saint Mary's pushed its lead to 3-1 in the third, getting an RBI single from Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.), scoring Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.), who had led off the inning with a single, stole second, and moved to third on Andy Tepp's (Stevens Point, Wis.) pop-out to short.
 
The Cardinals' offense continued to swing the hot bat in the fifth, putting together back-to-back-to-back singles by Liam Belleveau (Middleton, Wis.), Tepp, and Matthews to plate their fourth run of the game — and chase Cougar starter Adam Gregory. Concordia reliever Cole Carman came on to record a pair of strikeouts to end the Saint Mary's threat, and keep it a 4-1 game.
 
Concordia scratched its second run off Green in the bottom of the fifth — getting a two-out single from Brayden Benavides to trim the Cardinal lead to 4-2 — and made it a one-run contest, 4-3, with a solo tally in the seventh.
 
And the Cougars weren't finished.
 
In their final at-bat, Concordia got a two-out, game-tying double from Mercado and, after an intentional walk put runners on first and second, Bryan Vanduser delivered a game-winning single through the right side to deal Saint Mary's the one-run setback.
 
Matthews finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs to pace the Cardinals' offensive attack, while Weinberg and Belleveau also chipped in two hits. Kody Kiel suffered the loss on the mound, allowing two runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings of relief. Green went the first 6 1/3, allowing three runs on three hits, while striking out 13. Stilp went 2/3 of scoreless relief, before giving way to Kiel to open the eighth.
 
The Cardinals (6-6 overall) close out their three-game stop in Carol Stream, Ill., on Saturday, playing Wheaton (Ill.) in a 2 p.m. nine-inning nonconference matchup, before heading to Naperville, Ill., for another noon, nine-inning nonconference contest against North Central.