By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ST. PAUL, Minn. — For the second time in as many years, the Saint Mary's University baseball team kicked off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference post-season play against Gustavus Thursday afternoon.
 
And Saint Mary's University baseball coach Nick Winecke must have had a severe case of déjà vu at CHS Field.
 
After all, for the second straight post-season meeting, the Cardinals — and their ace James Green (East Bethel, Minn.) — could not solve the Adam Stockwell-led Gusties, as Gustavus dealt Saint Mary's an identical 5-2 tournament-opening setback.
 
In a game in which nothing is a sure thing, there was one certainty Thursday  — Saint Mary's and Gustavus were opening post-season play with their aces on the mound.
 
And they did not disappoint.
 
Green and Stockwell turned in a repeat performance of their meeting in last year's tournament-opening, locking up in a classic pitcher's duel through the first four innings — before the two offenses finally broke out of their May slumber.
 
After failing to convert on a lead-off single by Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Min.) in the first, the Cardinals went right back to work in the second, loading the bases on singles by Liam Belleveau (Middleton, Wis.) and Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) sandwiched around a walk to Bailey Melz (Excelsior, Minn.) — all with two out. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Stockwell wiggled out of the jam, striking out Zach Drake (Westby, Wis.) to end the threat and keep the game scoreless.
 
Saint Mary's — set down in order in both the third and fourth innings — got to Stockwell for another couple of runs in the fifth, but again could not plate a run. Costello delivered his second hit, a one-out single — the Cardinals' first hit since the junior's infield single in the second — but was picked off first for the second out of the inning. Drake followed with a single to left and stole second, but again Stockwell escaped with no damage, inducing Weinberg to ground out to second.
 
Gustavus broke the scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with one out on a Cardinal fielding error and back-to-back singles. Brice Panning drew a walk to score the game's first run and Carter Clemensen followed with a two-run single to push the lead to 3-0.
 
Saint Mary's finally got to Stockwell for a solo run in the sixth. Piechowski and Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) each singled to open the inning, were moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.), and Piechowski scored on a groundout to second by Hunter Gustafson (Webster, Wis.) to cut the deficit to 3-1.
 
Once shifted out of neutral, however, the Gustie offense made things miserable for Cardinal pitchers. The Gusties welcomed Saint Mary's reliever Joe Bauer (Pine Island, Minn.) with three hits and two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to push the Gustavus lead to 5-1.
 
Melz opened the Cardinals' seventh with a double, and Costello's third single of the afternoon put runners on the corners with no one out. Stockwell once again pulled his Houdini act, getting pinch-hitter Connor Cornell (Plymouth, Minn.) to ground into a double play — scoring Melz — before ending the inning on a Weinberg fly out to center.
 
 That, however, would be as close as Saint Mary's would get, as Stockwell kept the Cardinals at bay, allowing just a two-out walk over the final two innings in posting the complete-game victory.
 
Costello led the Cardinals' nine-hit offensive attack, going 3-for-4, while six other Cardinals — Weinberg, Piechowski, Tepp, Belleveau, Melz, and Drake — accounted for Saint Mary's other six hits.
 
Green suffered the pitching loss, allowing three runs — two earned — on five hits in five innings. Bauer, meanwhile, surrendered two runs on three hits in three innings of relief.
 
The Cardinals (20-17 overall) will play in an elimination game of Saturday, facing the loser of Thursday night's Saint John's/St. Olaf contest at 3 p.m. at Bethel's Hargis Park in Arden Hills, Minn.