NORTHFIELD, Minn. — If Saint Mary's University baseball coach Nick Winecke was hoping Wednesday's nonconference game against Carleton would give his Cardinals a boost of momentum heading into this weekend's MIAC Tournament qualifier series against Augsburg — he certainly got his wish.
 
The Cardinals put a runner on base in each of the game's nine innings, belted nine extra-base hits — including Justin Weinberg's (Eagan, Minn.) second home run of the season — and survived the Knights' crazy, eight-run ninth inning en route to an 11-10 nonconference win at Mel Taube Field.
 
Saint Mary's spotted the Knights a 1-0, first-inning lead, before knotting the game at 1-1 in the top of the second on a Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) RBI double.
 
Carleton posted its second one-run inning of the afternoon in the fourth, but the Cardinals took command, scoring three in the fifth — highlighted by Weinberg's solo home run and a Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) two-run double — to take the lead for good, 4-2.
 
And the runs just kept piling up.
 
Taylor Anderson (Waukesha, Wis.) made it 5-2 with a run-scoring double in the sixth; Tyler O'Brien (Belle Plaine, Minn.) and Isaac Blum (Verona, Wis.) delivered RBI singles in the seventh; Brandon Merfeld (La Crosse, Wis.) scored in the eighth on a ground-ball double play; and Ben Coons (Kimberly, Wis.) launched a bases-clearing, three-run double in the ninth to give Saint Mary's a commanding 11-2 advantage.
 
Carleton made things interesting in its last at-bat, however, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring eight runs — including a three-run home run by Cayten Gardner that pulled the Knights within one, 11-10. Tanner Bauman (Willmar, Minn.) — the Cardinals' ninth pitcher of the afternoon — got Paul Hinton to fly out to center to end the threat, and earn Saint Mary's its 23rd win of the season.
 
Twelve Cardinals accounted for Saint Mary's 18 hits, including two-hit games from Anderson, Weinberg, Merfeld, Blum, Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.), and Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.). Coons drove in a team-high three-runs, while Costello chipped in two RBIs.
 
The Cardinals return to action this weekend, playing a three-game series against Augsburg. Third-seeded Saint Mary's will travel to Siebert Field in Minneapolis, Minn., for a nine-inning congest against the 10th-seeded Auggies on Saturday, before hosting Augsburg for a pair of nine-inning contests on Sunday. The winner of the three-game series advances to the MIAC Tournament.