COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — Deuces were wild for the Saint Mary's University baseball team Thursday afternoon in the Cardinals' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Saint John's.
 
The Cardinals put three two-run innings — accounting for all six SMU runs on the day — and managed to parlay that into a split in their conference twinbill against the Johnnies at Becker Park.
 
Saint Mary's plated two runs in the third inning, but came up one run short in falling to Saint John's 3-2 in Game 1, before adding back-to-back two-run innings in the second and third in Game 2 — and made it stand up en route to a 4-3 victory.
 
The Cardinals boasted the "big" inning in the opener, scoring twice in the third inning — getting an RBI triple from Tyler O'Brien (Belle Plaine, Minn.) and a run-scoring groundout by Taylor Anderson (Waukesha, Wis.).
 
But it was the Johnnies' "little" innings that proved to be the difference, as Saint John's scored single runs in the first, second and fifth innings — with Zach Seichow's fifth-inning single to right plating the game-winning run.
 
O'Brien finished the opener with two hits in four at-bats — scoring once and driving in a run — while Anderson, Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.), and Zach Drake (Westby, Wis.) collected Saint Mary's other three hits. Addison Hochevar (Lake Geneva, Wis.) suffered the pitching loss, allowing one run on two hits in three innings of relief. Starter James Green (East Bethel, Minn.) led after three inning, surrendering two runs on seven hits.
 
After scoring just five runs in the entire seven-inning first game, the Cardinals and Johnnies had surpassed that run production in the first three innings of the nightcap.
 
Saint Mary's got on the board first in Game 2, scoring a pair of two-out, unearned runs on a Johnnie fielding error. The Cardinals would put up another two runs in the third — once again taking advantage of an SJU error to plate a pair of unearned runs for a 4-0 lead.
 
That four-run lead was short-lived, however, as SJU answered with three runs in its half of the third —  one on a groundout and the other two on a two-out single by Joe Becker — to whittle the lead to one, 4-3.
 
And, thanks to the pitching of Luke Gilbertson (Windom, Minn.) — and a little ninth-inning relief help from Kodey Kiel (Owatonna, Minn.) — it would remain 4-3 the rest of the way.
 
Gilbertson held the Johnnies to three runs on five hits through eight innings, before giving up back-to-back one-out singles in the ninth. Kiel came on to get the next two batters — one on a line-out and the other on a strikeout — for his team-leading third save.
 
Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) went 2-for-5 with a run scored to pace SMU's six-hit Game 2 offensive attack, with O'Brien, Jack Arndt (Coon Rapids, Minn.), Ben Coons (Kimberly, Wis.), and Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) recording the other four hits.
 
The Cardinals (7-5 MIAC, 13-8 overall) are back in action this weekend, hosting Concordia for three MIAC games. The Cardinals and Cobbers will play a conference doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m., and return to Max Molock Field for a single, nine-inning game on Sunday, also starting at 1 p.m.