WINONA, Minn. — After banging out a combined 25 hits in the first two games of their three-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference qualifier series against Augsburg — including 13 in a 7-1, playoff-clinching win in Game 2 on Sunday, the Saint Mary's University bats decided to take the rest of the afternoon off.
 
Augsburg limited the high-powered Cardinal offense to just three hits, while scoring six times on three, two-run innings, en route to a 6-1 victory at Max Molock Field.
 
Fortunately for coach Nick Winecke and the Cardinals, that setback meant little in the grand scheme of things.
 
After all, with its 7-1 win in the first of the teams' two games on Sunday, Saint Mary's had already locked up a spot in the six-team MIAC Tournament, which will kick off Wednesday with a winner-take-all game against either Hamline or Concordia at Max Molock Field. The winner of that contest will advance to the four-team double-elimination portion of the tourney, which will be held Friday and Saturday at Becker Park in Collegeville, Minn.
 
The Auggies came out swinging from the get-go, scoring twice in their first at-bat against SMU starter Jake Mercado (Belle Plaine, Minn.), getting a two-out, two-run home run from Steven Salz to grab a 2-0 advantage.
 
Saint Mary's got one run back in the bottom of the second, taking advantage of a two-out Auggie throwing effort to score once and pull within one, 2-1.
 
Augsburg, however, added to its lead with two more two-run innings — one in the third and the other in the seventh — to earn the 6-1 victory.
 
Isaac Blum (Verona, Wis.) recorded two of the Cardinals' three hits, going 2-for-3, while Ben Coons (Kimberly, Wis.) collected the other hit and scored SMU's final run.