By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
WINONA, Minn. — To say that Saint Mary's University's
James Green (East Bethel, Minn.) is rather frugal when it comes to doling out runs — or hits for that matter — is proving to be a bit of an understatement.
Green took the mound for the second time this week on Saturday — and for the second straight outing, the Cardinal sophomore was brilliant, tossing a complete-game three-hit shutout in guiding Saint Mary's to a 1-0 victory over Concordia in the opening game of the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader Saturday at Max Molock Field.
The Cardinals, who managed just three hits of their own in Game 1, got the bats going in the nightcap, recording eight hits — three for extra bases.
Unfortunately, the Cobbers' bats always awoke from their opening game slumber, banging out 12 hits — including four doubles — en route to a 6-4 victory.
As good as he was in his first start of the week — a seven-hit shutout of Macalester on Monday — Green was even batter against the Cobbers, limiting CC to just three singles, while walking three and striking out five, including striking out the side after giving up a lead-off walk in the top of the seventh inning.
Saint Mary's gave Green all the offensive run support he would need in the fourth inning, scoring the game's only run on a one-out, bases-loaded walk to
Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.).
Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.),
Hunter Gustafson (Webster, Wis.), and
Zach Drake (Westby, Wis.) collected Saint Mary's three Game 1 hits.
The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead in the nightcap, taking advantage of a Cobber fielding error to score an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning.
After throwing up their eighth straight zero in the top of the first, the Cobbers kicked their offense out a neutral early in the nightcap, scoring four times off Cardinal starter
Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) in the second inning to grab a 4-1 lead.
Saint Mary's clawed to within one, 4-3, in the third — scoring twice on back-to-back RBI groundouts by Gustafson and
Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.).
That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as Concordia plated solo runs in both the fifth and sixth inning, before Saint Mary's scored its fourth run of the game on an RBI double by Tepp in the sixth.
Piechowski finished 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored to fuel Saint Mary's eight-hit Game 2 attack, while
Dirk Drohner (Plover, Wis.) added a pair of hits, and
Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.), Tepp, and
Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) accounted for the other three.
The Cardinals (8-6 MIAC, 16-14 overall) are back in action on Tuesday, traveling to Parade Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn., for a 2:30 p.m. MIAC doubleheader against Augsburg.
