By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team put together plenty of eyebrow-raising individual performances during its 10-game spring trip last week.
And while the games may have been played in Florida, those efforts did not go unnoticed in the Midwest, as a pair of Cardinals landed Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference weekly honors.
Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) was named the conference's Player of the Week, while
James Green (East Bethel, Minn.) landed MIAC Pitcher of the Week honors.
Green was virtually untouchable in his two spring trip starts, going 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA. The sophomore right-hander — the MIAC's reigning Rookie of the Year — threw six shutout innings, allowing just one hit, in his first start against Cabrini on Feb. 24. Green was back on the mound on March 1, and tossed six more innings of shutout ball, before Neumann tagged him for three runs in the seventh of the Cardinals' 9-3 victory. Green closed out the week striking out 16 and allowing just two walks — one in each game.
Piechowski was the Cardinals' offensive leader during their 10-game run in Auburndale, Fla., hitting a team-high .429, while also leading or sharing the team lead in at-bats (35), runs (12), hits (15), triples (1), home runs (1), RBIs (12), slugging percentage (.600), and on-base percentage (.524). Piechowski belted his first collegiate home run — a grand slam — in Saint Mary's 11-1 win over Cabrini on Feb. 24, and collected at least one hit in eight of the Cardinals' 10 games, including a season-opening seven-game hitting streak. Piechowski boasted four multiple-hit games — including three-hit efforts against MSOE on Feb. 24 and RPI on March 2.
The Cardinals, who closed out their spring trip with a 6-4 mark, are now off until March 22-23, when they travel to Carol Stream, Ill., to take part in the Wheaton (Ill.) Invitational. Saint Mary's will face Concordia-Chicago at 2 p.m. on March 22, before facing Concordia-Moorhead (11 a.m.) and host Wheaton (2 p.m.) the following day.
