By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ROSEVILLE, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team is back in action on Thursday, traveling to the University of Northwestern's Reynolds Field for a nonconference doubleheader against St. Scholastica. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (7-7 Overall) vs. St. Scholastica Saints (4-4 Overall), 10 a.m.
 
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Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—March 22-24, 2019 * Carol Stream, Ill.: The Cardinals scored first in all four of their games last weekend, but had to settle for a 1-3 record. Saint Mary's dropped a 9-7, 11-inning decision to Concordia-Moorhead, while also falling 5-4 to nationally ranked Concordia-Chicago and suffering a 12-5 setback at the hands of Wheaton. Saint Mary's concluded its Illinois trip with a 7-4 win over North Central (Ill.) | CC Recap * CUC Recap * Wheaton Recap * NC Recap
• St. Scholastica—March 9-16, 2019 * Auburndale, Fla.: The Saints closed out their eight-game spring trip with a 4-4 record — including wins in three of their last four contests. St. Scholastica beat Lesley (7-3), Wheaton (Mass.) (4-3), Keane State (18-4), and Westfield State (12-6), while losing to Lesley (7-1), Fontbonne (11-1), Concordia-Chicago (3-1), and Concordia-Texas (15-7) | Spring Trip Recaps
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Scholastica — Their Last Meeting:
• March 28, 2017 * Max Molock Field * Winona, Minn.: Saint Mary's banged out 13 hits in its nine-inning nonconference game against St. Scholastica. The visiting Saints, meanwhile, managed just 11 hits off three Cardinal pitchers. Unfortunately, St. Scholastica also benefited from six walks and five Cardinal errors, as the Saints dealt the Cardinals a 10-4 nonconference setback | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals kick off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, heading to Saint John's Becker Park in Collegeville, Minn., for a doubleheader against the Johnnies. First-pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
• St. Scholastica: The Saints hit the road on Saturday, heading to Whitewater, Wis., for a nonconference doubleheader against UW-Whitewater. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
 
Scouting the Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• Saint Mary's two games against St. Scholastica are the 13th and 14th of 20 straight road games to open the season for the Cardinals, who do not play their home opener until April 6, when they host St. Olaf in a 1 p.m. MIAC doubleheader. … Saint Mary's snapped a three-game losing streak with last Sunday's 7-4 win over North Central (Ill.). The Cardinals opened the season with four straight wins, before going 2-4 in their final six contests. … The Cardinals hit .275 as a team during its four games in Carol Stream, Ill., last weekend. … Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) led the Cardinals' offense, hitting .474, while Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn. / .375), Liam Belleveau (Middleton, Wis. / .368), and Dixon Irwin (Red Wing, Minn. / .364) also hit above .350 for the weekend. … Weinberg had at least two hits in all four games last weekend, while Piechowski, Belleveau, and Connor Cornell (Plymouth, Minn.) had at least one hit in all four games. … Irwin notched his first collegiate three-hit game against Concordia-Moorhead last Friday. … Piechowski heads into the Cardinals' nonconference doubleheader against St. Scholastica hitting a team-best .412. He is one of seven Cardinals with 20 or more at-bats who is hitting above .300 — Weinberg (.375), Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill. / .354), Belleveau (.348), Zach Drake (Westby, Wis. / .321), Cornell (.320), and Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis. / .319) are the others. … Piechowski also leads or shares the team lead in at-bats (51), runs (17), hits (21), triples (3), home runs (1), total bases (31), slugging percentage (.608), on-base percentage (.508), and stolen bases (7). … Piechowski belted his first collegiate home run — a grand slam — in the Cardinals' 11-1, season-opening win over Cabrini on Feb. 24 … Belleveau (Middleton, Wis.) went 2-for-4 — picking up his first two collegiate triples — in the Cardinals' win over Milwaukee School of Engineering on Feb. 25. Belleveau then recorded his first collegiate three-hit game, while posting career-highs with three RBIs and three runs scored against Rose-Hulman the following day. … Taylor Anderson (Waukesha, Wis.), Hunter Gustafson (Webster, Wis.), and Joe Bauer (Pine Island, Minn.) collected their first collegiate hits during the Cardinals' spring trip. … Saint Mary's has collected 142 hits this season, including 35 for extra bases — 27 doubles, seven triples, and one home run. … The Cardinals, who set a single-game school record with 16 walks against Milwaukee School of Engineering on Feb. 25, have drawn 84 walks through 14 games this season — led by Tepp with 12, and Matthews and Dirk Drohner (Plover, Wis.) with 11 each. … The Cardinals have recorded 43 multiple-hit games, led by Piechowski with seven, and Belleveau, Matthews, and Weinberg with six each. … Tepp and Matthews share the team lead with five multiple-RBI games. … Weinberg heads into the St. Scholastica doubleheader riding a seven-game hitting streak. He is the third Cardinal to hit safely in seven straight games, joining Tepp and Piechowski. … Tepp had reached base safely in the Cardinals' first 12 games, before being held off the base paths in the Cardinals' 12-5 loss to Wheaton on March 23. … James Green (East Bethel, Minn.) — the MIAC Rookie of the Year and a First-Team All-MIAC selection a year ago — and Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) have each logged a team-high 18.1 innings, while Eli Morrison (Minneapolis, Minn. / 13.2 IP), Tyler Stilp (Lindstrom, Minn. / 11.1 IP), and Jonathan Cieminski (Fountain City, Wis. / 11.1 IP) have also thrown more than 10 innings this season. … Kodey Kiel (Owatonna, Minn.) boasts a team-best 1.04 ERA in five appearances (8.2 IP), while Wolfe is 1-0 with a 1.47 ERA and Green is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in three starts each. … Green has thrown six or more innings in all three of his starts this season. … Green has struck out a team-leading 29 batters, followed by Wolfe with 17 Ks, and Kiel, Morrison, Jake Kramlinger (White Bear Lake, Minn.), and Luke Gilbertson (Windom, Minn.) with 10 strikeouts each. … Gilbertson earned his first win in a Cardinal uniform — allowing two runs on four hits in four innings in Game 2 against MSOE on Feb. 25, while Jake Kramlinger and Kiel each recorded their first collegiate saves — Kramlinger's vs. MSOE on Feb. 25 and Kiel's against Neumann on March 1. … The Cardinals have used 14 different pitchers, with Stilp having made a team-leading eight pitching appearances. … Saint Mary's has outscored its opponents 109-99, including 18-6 in the first inning and 14-4 in the fifth. … Four of the Cardinals' seven wins have been by 10 runs or more. … Saint Mary's has scored three or more runs in all 14 of their games this season. … Saint Mary's scored a season-high 14 runs in its 18-14 loss to Rose-Hulman on Feb. 26. … The Cardinals have scored in the first inning in eight of their 14 games — including all four games last weekend — and have scored first 11 times. … Saint Mary's 9-7, 11-inning loss to Concordia last Friday was its first extra-inning game, and the Cardinals' longest game since dropping a 7-6, 13-inning decision against Wartburg on Feb. 27, 2017. … The Cardinals are 7-3 when leading after the sixth inning, but are winless (0-4) when trailing heading into the seventh inning. … The Cardinals — who made their second MIAC Playoff appearance in the last three years, and their fifth in the last seven seasons a year ago — were picked to finish fifth in the 2019 MIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
 
Scouting the St. Scholastica Saints
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• After going 1-3 in their first four games this seaosn, the Saints closed out their spring trip winning three of their last four. … St. Scholastica returns from Auburndale, Fla., hitting just .239 as a team. … Aaron Weber enters the Saints' doubleheader against Saint Mary's hitting a team-leading .367, while also leading the team in hits (11), doubles (3), RBIs (6), total bases (16), and slugging percentage (.533). … Zach Harding is the only other Saint with 20 or more at-bats hitting above .300, owning a .348 batting average. … Harding is the team-leader with nine runs scored and a .483 on-base percentage, while sitting second to Weber in hits (8), doubles (2), and total bases (10). … St. Scholastica hit three home runs during its spring trip — two of the bat of Eric Pearson (.200) and the other coming from Cole Tyman (.200). … Weber has collected a team-leading four two-hit games through the Saints' first eight contests, while Harding and Mitchell Olson have each posted two multiple-hit games. … Tyman is the team-leader with three multiple-RBI performances. … Weber heads into the Saints' showdown against Saint Mary's riding a team-high five-game hitting streak. He and Eric Pearson have each reached base safely in five consecutive contests. … St. Scholastica boasts two pitchers — Matt Tautges (11.0 IP) and Isaac Rocha (11.0 IP) — who have logged 10 or more innings through eight games. … The Saints have four pitchers  — Jake Sande (2-0, 3.72 ERA), Tautges (0-1, 4.09 ERA), Rocha (0-1, 5.75 ERA), and James Fueniss (0-0, 831 ERA) — who have accounted for all eight starts this season. … CSS has used 10 pitchers — with eight appearing in two games each. … Rocha leads the staff with 15 strikeouts, three more than Tautges. … St. Scholastica has outscored its opponents 27-8 after the fifth inning. On the flip side, CSS has been outscored 6-2 in the first inning, 13-5 in the fourth, and 10-2 in the fifth. … St. Scholastica has been held to two runs or less in three of its four losses. CSS is 4-1 when scoring more than three runs. … The Saints are unbeaten when scoring the game's first run (3-0), and have not lost — going 3-0 — when leading after the sixth inning.