WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team entered Thursday's doubleheader against Macalester as one of the hottest teams in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference — having won four straight and 9 of its last 10.
They left Max Molock Field even hotter.
The Cardinals ran their winning streak to six straight, and improved to 11-1 in their last 12, scoring seven runs in each game in dropping the Scots 7-4 and 7-0.
Luke Gilbertson (Windom, Minn.) was the Cardinals' No. 1 star Thursday, as the junior right-hander tossed his first collegiate complete game shutout, limiting Macalester to just six hits over nine innings in Saint Mary's 7-0 Game 2 win.
Saint Mary's also used its speed on the base paths to help run — literally — their winning streak to six straight, as the Cardinals stole 15 bases in the two games, including four by
Zach Drake (Westby, Wis.)
The first game was literally a team effort, as Saint Mary's banged out seven hits — by seven different players. And two pitchers —
James Green (East Bethel, Minn.) and
Addison Hochevar (Lake Geneva, Wis.) — combined on the pitching victory.
Macalester plated the game's first run in the top of the second inning, but the Cardinals promptly responded with four runs in their half of the frame.
Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) laced an RBI double and
Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) recorded the first of his two RBIs to score another run, and Saint Mary's took advantage of two Scots' errors to grab a 4-1 lead — a lead the Cardinals would not relinquish.
The Scots whittled away at the SMU lead, getting to within one, 4-3, only to have Saint Mary's score three unanswered runs — one on a
Jack Arndt (Coon Rapids, Minn.) single in the fifth, one on a VanEgtern sixth-inning sacrifice fly, and the other on a sixth-inning Macalester fielding error.
Green picked up his first pitching win of the season in the opener, going 4 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, while Hochevar held the Scots to one run on two hits in 2 2/3 innings of relief.
The Cardinals gave Gilbertson all the run-support he would need with a single run in the third inning on a
Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.) RBI groundout.
Saint Mary's would cling to that one-run lead until the seventh, when the Cardinals erupted for five runs — getting RBI singles from Drake and
Taylor Anderson (Waukesha, Wis.) and a bases-clearing, three-run double off the bat of
Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.).
Drake added his second RBI single in the eighth, and Gilbertson set the Scots down in order in the ninth to seal the victory.
Anderson and Drake both had two hits to pace the Cardinals' eight-hit Game 2 offensive attack.
The Cardinals (12-5 MIAC, 18-8 overall) are back in action this weekend, taking on St. Olaf in a pair of doubleheaders. Saint Mary's and St. Olaf will play two conference games at Max Molock Field on Saturday, before heading to Northfield, Minn.,, for a nine-inning conference game and a seven-inning nonconference contest. Both doubleheaders are slated to start at 1 p.m.
