By
MEAGHAN UPDIKE
Saint Mary's Sports Information Intern
WINONA, Minn. — For the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team, Monday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Macalester followed an eerily similar pattern to the Cardinals' previous two twinbills.
Win Game 1, but fall short in Game 2.
The Cardinals rode the right arm of
James Green (East Bethel, Minn.) to a 2-0 victory in Game 1, only to have Macalester respond by score five runs in the first two innings in earning the split with an 8-4 victory in the nightcap at Max Molock Field.
Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) got the Cardinals off on the right foot in the opener, leading off the game with a single and eventually scoring on an
Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) sacrifice fly.
The Cardinals would maintain that one-run lead until the fifth, when
Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) laced a one-out triple and scored on a
Hunter Gustafson Hunter Gustafson (Webster, Wis.) single.
Green was his usual dominant self on the mound, limiting the Scots to seven hits — all singles — while walking just one and striking out 11 en route to his first shutout of the season and second of his collegiate career.
Weinberg finished with two hits in five at-bats to pace the Cardinals' five-hit offensive attack, while Piechowski, Gustafson, and
Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.) accounted for the other three hits.
Game 2 proved to be a different story — for both teams.
The Scots did not waste any time getting on the board, scoring twice in the first and three more times in the second off Saint Mary's starter
Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.).
Macalester would push that lead to 8-0, before the Cardinals finally got on the board in the bottom of the seventh.
Tyler O'Brien (Belle Plaine, Minn.) opened the inning with his first collegiate hit, moved to second on a single by
Zach Drake (Westby, Wis.), and the two advanced to second and third on a Weinberg groundout. A Piechowski sacrifice fly scored O'Brien, while Drake plated the second run of the inning on a wild pitch.
The Cardinals added two more runs in the bottom of the ninth — jump-started once again by a lead-off single off the bat of O'Brien.
Mitchell Feyereisen (River Falls, Wis.) followed O'Brien's single with a double of his own to put runners on second and third, and the two scored on a two-run single by Weinberg.
Unfortunately for Saint Mary's, the late-inning offensive fireworks proved to be too little too late.
Weinberg, Matthews, and O'Brien all finished with two hits, while Tepp, Drake, and Feyereisen each had one hit.
The Cardinals (6-4 MIAC, 14-12 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, traveling to CHS Field in St. Paul, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. conference doubleheader against Hamline.
