By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team returns to conference play on Saturday, as the Cardinals play host to Bethel in an MIAC doubleheader at Max Molock Field. First pitch in Game 1 is set for 1 p.m.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (10-6 MIAC, 18-14 Overall) vs. Bethel Royals (7-7 MIAC, 18-12 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—April 23, 2019 * Parade Stadium * Minneapolis, Minn.: The Cardinals picked up a key conference sweep of Augsburg, scoring the game-winning run in the top of the eighth inning in beating the Auggies 5-4 in the opener, before riding the pitching of Luke Gilbertson (Windom, Minn.) to a 1-0 win in the nightcap | Recap
• Bethel—April 25, 2019 * Superior, Wis.: Bethel slugged its way to a nonconference sweep at UW-Superior, as the Royals took the opener 9-7, before completing the sweep with a 19-1 rout in the nightcap | Recap 
 
Saint Mary's vs. Bethel — Their Last Meeting:
• April 28, 2018 * Hargis Park * Arden Hills, Minn.: The league-leading Cardinals headed into their MIAC doubleheader against Bethel having had a pitcher throw a Game 1 complete game in three straight twinbills. Eli Morison (Minneapolis, Minn.) nearly made it four straight, tossing 6 1/3 innings of three-hit ball. And three SMU relievers picked up right where Morison left off, holding the Royals to just one hit over the game's final 4 1/3 innings, as the Cardinals — thanks in part to a one-out, RBI single off the bat of Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) in the top of the 10th inning — grabbed a 2-1 Game 1 victory. There was no shortage of runs in the nightcap—unfortunately for the Cardinals, it was the Royals doing all the scoring, as Bethel erupted for four runs in the first inning and never looked back in dealing Saint Mary's a 10-1 setback to earn a split in the teams' conference doubleheader | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back in action ­— and back at Max Molock Field — on Wednesday, as they host Gustavus in a 2:30 p.m. conference doubleheader.
• Bethel: The Royals return home to Hargis Park in Arden Hills, Minn., on Wednesday, as BU entertains St. Olaf in a 2:30 p.m. MIAC twinbill.
 
Scouting the Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• The Cardinals' doubleheader against Bethel is the second of three straight home doubleheaders to close out the regular-season. Saint Mary's is 3-3 in its six games at Max Molock Field this season. … The Cardinals picked up their third doubleheader sweep of the season with their 5-4, 1-0 victories over Augsburg last Tuesday. The sweep also snapped a streak of five straight conference DH splits. … Saint Mary's has now swept Augsburg, Carleton and MSOE, while splitting doubleheaders against St. Olaf, St. Thomas, Macalester, Hamline, Concordia, Saint John's, John Carroll, and St. Scholastica. … With their 5-4, eight-inning win in the opener against Augsburg last Tuesday, the Cardinals have now won Game 1 in seven of their last eight doubleheaders. … Saint Mary's 1-0 victory over Augsburg in Game 2 last Tuesday was its fifth game decided by shutout this season — the Cardinals are 4-1 in those five contests. … Saint Mary's has held its opponents to two runs or less in 10 of their last 11 wins. … Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) and Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) each went 3-for-4 in Game 1 against Augsburg Tuesday, while Jacob French (Winona, Minn.) picked up two of Saint Mary's three hits in the nightcap. … Piechowski — who has had three hits in a game in two of the Cardinals' last three contests — heads into the Cardinals twinbill against Bethel leading the team with a .443 batting average. He is one of three Cardinal players with 50 or more at-bats hitting above .300, being joined by Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn. / .369) and Tepp (.316). … Piechowski also leads or shares the team lead in runs (29), hits (47), triples (4), home runs (2), total bases (68), slugging percentage (.642), on-base percentage (.512), and stolen bases (9). … Piechowski belted his first collegiate home run — a grand slam — in the Cardinals' 11-1, season-opening win over Cabrini on Feb. 24, before adding his second of the year in Game 1 against Augsburg on Tuesday. … Weinberg was held hitless in the nightcap against Hamline on April 18, snapping the junior's hitting streak at a career-high 20 games. It was the longest hitting streak since Ben Buerkle hit safely in 20 consecutive games during the 2014 season. … Despite having his hitting streak snapped, Weinberg has reached base safely in 25 straight games. … French's two hits in Game 2 against Augsburg last Tuesday marked his first collegiate two-hit game. … Dixon Irwin (Red Wing, Minn.) notched his first collegiate three-hit game against Concordia-Moorhead on March 22. … Liam Belleveau (Middleton, Wis.) went 2-for-4 with 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. … Tyler O'Brien (Belle Plaine, Minn.) picked up his first two collegiate hits in the second game against Macalester on April 15 — delivering a leadoff single in both the seventh and ninth innings. … O'Brien became the fourth Cardinal to pick up his first collegiate hit(s) this season, joining Gustafson, Taylor Anderson (Waukesha, Wis.), and Joe Bauer (Pine Island, Minn.), who all collected their first collegiate hits during the Cardinals' spring trip. … Saint Mary's has collected 279 hits this season, including 60 for extra bases — 49 doubles, nine triples, and two home runs. … The Cardinals, who set a single-game school record with 16 walks against Milwaukee School of Engineering on Feb. 25, have drawn 118 walks this season — led by Tepp with 20 and Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.) with 18. … The Cardinals have recorded 74 multiple-hit games, led by Piechowski (15), Weinberg (13), and Matthews (10). … Tepp leads the team with seven multiple-RBI games, two more than Matthews. … Jake Kramlinger (White Bear Lake, Minn.) picked up a win and a save against Augsburg last Tuesday, throwing 1.1 innings of scoreless relief in Saint Mary's 5-4, eight-inning victory in the opener, while striking out two and working out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the Cardinals' 1-0 win in the nightcap. … James Green (East Bethel, Minn.) — coming off a complete-game, seven-hit shutout of Macalester on April 15 — posted his second straight shutout in his next start against Concordia on April 20, limiting the Cobbers to just three hits in the 1-0 victory. … Green has now thrown back-to-back complete-game shutouts and has gone at least six innings in each of his seven starts. … Green, who owns three career complete-game shutouts, struck out 11 Macalester batters on April 15. It was the second time this season the sophomore has struck out more than 10 batters — having fanned a career-high 13 against Concordia-Chicago on March 22. … Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) recorded his first complete game of the season on April 9, tossing a six-hit, eight-inning shutout against St. Thomas. … Wolfe has now shut out of the Tommies for 17 consecutive innings — having tossed a complete-game, four-hit gem in Saint Mary's 1-0 victory on April 10, 2018. … Green and Wolfe lead the team with 45.1 IP, while Eli Morison (Minneapolis, Minn. / 38.2 IP) has also logged more than 30 innings on the mound this season. … With his latest two wins against Macalester and Concordia, Green — last year's MIAC Rookie of the Year — improved to 6-0 and lowered his ERA to 1.59. … Kodey Kiel (Owatonna, Minn.) — who notched his team-leading fourth save in Game 1 against St. Olaf on April 6, boasts a team-best 0.77 ERA in nine appearances (11.2 IP). … Tyler Stilp (Lindstrom, Minn. / 1-0, 8.16 ERA) has made a team-high 15 appearances on the mound — all in relief — while Jake Kramlinger (1-2, 4.15 ERA) has made 13 relief appearances. … Green has struck out a team-leading 55 batters, followed by Wolfe with 35. … Gilbertson (3-1, 5.23 ERA) 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 17 different pitchers this season. … Saint Mary's has outscored its opponents 24-15 in the first inning and 21-10 in the fifth. On the flip side, the Cardinals have been outscored 20-11 in the eighth inning and 12-2 in the ninth. … Saint Mary's has scored three or more runs in 25 of their 32 games this season. … With their 4-0, eight-inning win over St. Thomas on April 9, the Cardinals have posted a shutout win over the Tommies in each of their last two conference doubleheaders — Saint Mary's blanked UST 1-0 in nine innings on April 10, 2018, in Mauston, Wis. … Saint Mary's scored a season-high 14 runs in its 18-14 loss to Rose-Hulman on Feb. 26. … The Cardinals' eight-inning, 5-4 win over Augsburg in the opener Tuesday was their third extra-inning game of the season. Saint Mary's beat St. Thomas 4-0 on April 9, while dropping a 9-7, 11-inning contest to Concordia on March 22. … Saint Mary's 11-inning loss to Concordia on March 22 was the Cardinals' longest game since dropping a 7-6, 13-inning decision against Wartburg on Feb. 27, 2017. … The Cardinals are 15-3 when leading after the sixth inning, while going 2-10 when tied or 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 Bethel Royals:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• With their sweep of UW-Superior Thursday, the Royals head into their conference showdown against Saint Mary's having won three straight and six of their last seven — the lone loss in that span a 6-5 setback against Macalester on April 23. … Bethel's games against Saint Mary's are the eighth and ninth straight road games for the Royals — who have posted 16 of their 18 wins away from Hargis Park. … Heading into their doubleheader against Saint Mary's, the Royals are hitting .278 as a team — and boast four players who are hitting .300 or better. Ty Koehn leads BU with a .359 batting average, followed by Mitch Jerde (.320), Mitch Butvilas (.308), and Joey Fredrickson (.306). … Jerde, Butvilas, and Fredrickson all share the team lead with 33 hits, three more than Sam Horner (.263). … Butvilas also leads the Royals in runs scored with 24, while Jerde has belted a team-best eight doubles, one more than both Butvilas and Horner.. … Jerde, Marcus Krupke (.244), and Trey Kocher (.234) have hit BU's three triples, with Jerde launching three of the Royals' eight home runs. … Jerde also owns team-highs in RBIs (27), total bases (52), slugging percentage (.505), and on-base percentage (.398). … Bethel is 26-for-33 in stolen base attempts, led by Horner and Caleb Brandt, with five steals each. … Krupke has thrown a team-leading 39.1 innings to lead the Royals' pitching staff, with Connor Malcom (38.0) and Jake Marsh (35.2 IP) also logging more than 30 innings on the mound this seaons. … Krupke (3-1, 1.83 ERA) has made a team-leading seven starts, one more than Malcom (2-2, 3.55 ERA), while Brady Leahy (5-0, 2.96 ERA) has made a team-high 16 appearances — including 15 in relief. … Marsh (2-4, 5.05 ERA) owns a team-high three complete games, one more than Malcolm, while Leah is the Royals' saves leader with three. … The Bethel pitching staff boasts three hurlers — Krupke (35), Michael Bohlke (26), and Marsh (24) — with 20 or more strikeouts. … The Royals have scored 10 or more runs in a game four times — including a season-high 19 in Thursday's 19-1 win over UW-Superior. … Six of Bethel's last seven games — and 18 of their 30 this season — have been decided by two runs or less. … Bethel's 19-1, Game 2 win over UW-Superior Thursday was head coach Brian Raabe's 200^th collegiate coaching win. Spending all eight seasons of his coaching career with the Royals, Raabe boasts an all-time record of 200-109.