| The Cardinals are back in conference play on Tuesday, heading to Carleton for a pair of contests against the Knights. … Saint Mary's heads into its DH vs. Carleton sitting at 7-7 overall, including 1-4 in conference play. SMU dropped all four games against St. Thomas last weekend, falling 7-1 and 17-2 on the road last Friday, before dropping 13-0 and 7-1 decisions at home the following day. … Tyler O'Brien (Belle Plaine, Minn.) had three hits against the Tommies last weekend, while Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.), Zach Drake (Westby, Wis.), and Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) each had two hits. … Jack Arndt (Coon Rapids, Minn.) recorded a two-out double in the bottom of the seventh — his first collegiate hit — to break up St. Thomas' Game 2 no-hit bid last Saturday. … Five Cardinal regulars are hitting above .300 this season, led by Matthews' .375 batting average. Weinberg (.350), Drake (.323), Taylor Anderson (Waukesha, Wis. / .316), and O'Brien (.316) are the other four. … Saint Mary's owns 19 extra-base hits — all doubles — among their 91 hits this season. Matthews and O'Brien share the team lead with four doubles each. … Matthews leads the Cardinals with 10 RBIs, three more than Weinberg, Anderson, and Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.). … The Cardinals have gotten at least one RBI from 14 different players. … Drake had five hits in seven at-bats against Crown on March 29 — including a perfect 3-for-3, four-run, 3-RBI effort in Game 2. … Drake's four runs scored in the nightcap were a single-game career-high and marked the first time since Joe Seegers against Rose-Hulman on March 1, 2018 that a Cardinal has scored four runs in a game. … Matthews has posted a team-high five multiple-hit games, while Weinberg owns two of the team's four three-hit performances. … Anderson drew a single-game career-high three walks against Luther on March 20. … Jordan Zabel (Elgin, Minn. / 1-1, 3.86 ERA) collected his first collegiate pitching win against Gustavus on March 26, tossing three innings of shutout, one-hit relief. … Addison Hochevar (Lake Geneva, Wis.) moved into a tie for the team lead in wins (2), tossing 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief against Luther on March 20. The freshman earned his first win as a Cardinal, throwing four scoreless innings in relief, allowing two hits and striking out eight in Saint Mary's 5-3 Game 1 win over Augsburg on March 16. … 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 (2-2, 5.14 ERA) has thrown a team-high 21.0 innings, while Jonathan Cieminski (Fountain City, Wis.) leads the team with 16 strikeouts, followed by Hochevar with 13, Zabel and Jake Mercado (Belle Plaine, Minn.) with 12, and Wolfe with 11. … Saint Mary's scored a season-high 10 runs twice in its March 29 nonconference split against Crown. SMU won the opener 10-4, before falling 12-10 in the nightcap. … The Cardinals scored in 11 of the 13 innings they batted in in Monday's split against Crown — including scoring at least one run in all six innings of their 10-4, Game 1 win. … Saint Mary's has posted one doubleheader sweep this season — beating Luther 2-1 and 4-2 on March 14 — while splitting DHs against Augsburg, Gustavus, and Crown, and getting swept twice by St. Thomas. … The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 19-5 in the seventh inning. … With their 12-10, Game 2 loss to Crown on Monday, the Cardinal have played five games this season decided by two runs or less. … The Cardinals' 10 runs in both games of their doubleheader against Crown on March 29 were a season-high. … 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 4-2, Game 2 loss to Augsburg on March 16 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 win |
The Knights kicked off their 2021 season on Monday, dropping the first game of their conference doubleheader to Bethel 6-4. Carleton also trailed the Royals by two in the nightcap, 8-6, in the bottom of the ninth, before play was halted due to darkness. … After scoring once in the seventh on a one-out single by Jacob Small, the Knights left the tying run on second base in falling to Bethel in the opener. … Carleton's eight hits in Monday's opener against Bethel came from seven different players. Sam Schur led the way, going 2-for-2 with a run scored. … With their two games against Bethel on Monday and Tuesday's DH against Saint Mary's, Carleton is in the midst of playing its first seven games of the 2021 on their home diamond. Carleton closes out the seven-game homestand with three home tilts against St. Olaf this weekend. … The Knights' two games against Bethel on Monday equaled the total number of games Carleton was able to play in 2020 before the pandemic shut down its season. Carleton dropped back-to-back 10-0 decisions at Benedictine on March 7. … Monday's home games against Bethel were the first played at Carleton's Mel Taube Field in 704 days, dating back to a May 2, 2019, when the Knights split with Hamline.
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