| The Cardinals enter Saturday's game against Luther on the heels of a nonconference split against Augsburg at US Bank Stadium last Tuesday. Saint Mary's beat the Auggies 5-3 in the opener, before falling 4-2 in the nightcap. … Saint Mary's 4-2, Game 2 loss to Augsburg Tuesday snapped its season-opening four-game winning streak and its seven-game winning streak overall — the Cardinals had ended their pandemic-shortened 2020 season with three straight wins. … Tyler O'Brien (Belle Plaine, Minn.), Taylor Anderson (Waukesha, Wis.), and Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.) all had two hits in the opener against Augsburg Tuesday, while Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) was 3-for-3 in the nightcap. … Matthews has hit safely in all five games this season, while O'Brien and Anderson had their season-opening four-game hit streaks snapped in Game 2. … Five Cardinal regulars are hitting above .350 this season, led by Matthews at .615. Anderson (.438), Weinberg (.438), Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn. / .357), and O'Brien (.353) are the other four. … Saint Mary's owns seven extra-base hits — all doubles — among their 40 hits this season. O'Brien has belted three of those seven doubles. … Matthews, Anderson, and O'Brien share the team lead with five RBIs. … Jordan Zabel (Elgin, Minn.) made his first collegiate pitching start in Game 2 against Augsburg Tuesday, allowing just one hit in 4.2 innings and striking out seven in a no-decision. … Addison Hochevar (Lake Geneva, Wis.) collected his first career pitching win as a Cardinal, throwing four innings of scoreless, two-hit, eight-strikeout relief in Tuesday's Game 1 win over Augsburg. … Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) tossed a complete-game four-hitter in SMU's 2-1 Game 1 win over Luther on March 14. It was his fourth career complete game. … Wolfe (2-0, 1.00 ERA) has thrown a team-high 9.0 innings, while Hochevar and Zabel are the team's strikeout leaders with eight and seven, respectively. … As a pitching staff, the Cardinals boast a 2.06 ERA and opponents are hitting .176. … The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 12-4 in the first inning, and have scored at least one first-inning run in all five games this season. … Saint Mary's has scored eight of its 14 runs this season in the first inning. … With their 5-3 win and 4-2 loss to Augsburg last Tuesday, the Cardinal have now played four straight games decided by two runs or less. Saint Mary's beat Luther 2-1 and 4-2 on March 14. … The Cardinals' DH vs. Luther on March 14 was their first home game in 683 days, dating back to a conference DH vs. Gustavus on May 1, 2019. … Saint Mary's 11-4 win over No. 14 St. John Fisher on March 3, 2020 was the 200th career coaching victory for Cardinal head coach Nick Winecke. |
After a pair of convincing wins over Cornell to kick off the season — beating the Rams 12-3 and 11-7 — the Norse have dropped three straight, including both ends of a doubleheader against Saint Mary's on March 14. … Peyton Lindmark is the team's offensive leader, boasting a .500 batting average. Lindmark is one of six Norse regulars hitting abvove .300 through five games, being joined by Joe Jersak (.429), Kelby Johnson (.421), Owen Vander Linden (.375), Luke Plunkett (.313), and Charlie Rubendall (.313). … Johnson owns a team-leading eight hits, while Vander Linden has driven in a team-best eight runs. … Johnson has had at least one hit in all five Luther games this season — including three, two-hit performances. … Three of Vander Linden's six hits this season have been for extra bases — one double and two home runs. … As a team, Luther, which is hitting .279, has collected 43 hits, including 15 for extra bases — 10 doubles, two triples, and three home runs. … Luther has stolen seven bases in 11 attempts, led by Vander Linden and Rubendall with two each. … Nick Dufoe (1-1, 3.85 ERA) has made two starts to lead the Norse pitching staff. … Dufoe has tossed a team-high 7.0 innings, while six of the nine Luther pitchers this season have thrown at least three innings. … Dufoe has struck out a team-high six batters, one more than Calvin Brinda (0-0, 0.00, 4.0 IP). … After scoring 23 runs in their sweep of Cornell on March 6, the Norse have plated just eight runs in its last three games combined. … Luther scored a season-high 12 runs in its season-opening 12-3 win over Cornell on March 6, and surrendered a season-high 13 runs in falling to Northwestern 13-5 on March 13.
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