By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
AUBURNDALE, Fla. — It took a while for the Saint Mary's University baseball team to get its offense on track Sunday afternoon, but for coach Nick Winecke, it was better late than never.
 
The Cardinals managed just a solo run in the opening game of their season-opening, nonconference doubleheader against Widener, but came to life in the nightcap, scoring eight times — including the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning — en route to an 8-7 victory.
 
The Cardinals struck first in the opener, scoring a solo run with two outs in the top of the first inning. Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) drew a walk, moved to third on a double by Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.), and scored on a single by Connor Cornell ().
 
Widener pulled even with the Cardinals with a single run in the third and took its first lead of the game in the fifth, plating a pair of runs on four hits off Saint Mary's starter James Green (East Bethel, Minn.) — who had limited the Pride to just two hits over the game's first four innings.
 
The Cardinals threatened in both the sixth and seventh, putting a runner on second base with two outs each time, but came up empty both times.
 
Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) and Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) each had two hits to account for four of the Cardinals' six Game 1 hits. Piechowski and Cornell recorded the other two. Green suffered the pitching loss, allowing three runs on six hits in five innings of work. He did not walk a batter and struck out one.
 
Saint Mary's spotted the Pride a 5-0 lead in the nightcap, as Widener scored once in the top of the first and added four more in the third.
 
In the blink of an eye — or, rather in the span of three outs — it was all tied up, as Saint Mary's answered Widener's four-run third with a five-run outburst in its half of the inning to knot the game at 5-5.
 
Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.) drove in one of the Cardinals' fifth-inning runs, while two other scored on wild pitches and the other two scored on a Pride fielding error.
 
The Cardinals took their first lead of the game in the fourth, when Weinberg belted the team's first home run of the season — a two-run shot — to give Saint Mary's a 7-5 lead. Widener, however, pulled even in the top of the seventh, scoring twice to knot the game at 7-7 and send it to extra innings.
 
Widener left the bases loaded in the eighth and stranded two more in the ninth — and the Cardinals took advantage, scoring the game-winning, unearned run in the bottom half of the ninth. Weinberg laced a one-out single in the ninth, moved to third on a Piechowski double and scored on an error by Pride shortstop Ricky Collings.
 
Weinberg finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored to pace the Cardinals in the nightcap, with Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) added his first two collegiate hits in three at-bats.
 
The Cardinals (1-1 overall) are back in action on Monday, squaring off against Albion in a nine-inning contest beginning at 1:15 p.m. (EST).