COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — It's been said that numbers don't lie.
The Saint Mary's University baseball team, however, would beg to differ.
The Cardinals entered Friday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoff winner's bracket game against top-seeded St. Thomas having already played the Tommies four times this season — and managed just five runs, combined, in those four contests.
St. Thomas, meanwhile, had feasted on Saint Mary's pitching in those four games, scoring 41 runs in posting a perfect 4-0 regular-season record against the Cardinals.
That all changed on this sunny afternoon at Saint John's Becker Park, as the Cardinals scored six runs — including four in the decisive seventh inning — in beating the top-seeded Tommies 6-3, earning SMU a berth in Saturday's playoff championship game.
The Cardinals — now 2-0 in the double-elimination tournament — will now wait to see who they will play in Saturday's title game, as Bethel and Gustavus have to play in an elimination game at 3 p.m. on Friday, with the winner facing St. Thomas in another elimination game Friday evening.
They may not know who their opponent will be Saturday, but one thing is certain — whoever they play will have to be beat the Cardinals twice. A Saint Mary's win in either of the possible two games Saturday, and SMU will earn its first-ever MIAC Playoff title, and the coveted automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Tournament.
The Tommies came out swinging from the get-go on Friday, scoring twice in their first plate appearance against Cardinal starter
Jake Mercado (Belle Plaine, Minn.).
Sam Kulesa led off the UST first with a single up the middle and Avery Lehman followed with a bunt single. Kulesa stole third and scored on a Jake Porter ground out back to Mercado. Charlie Bartholomew singled to short to once again put runners at the corners, and Josh Thorp grounded into a fielder's choice to score the Tommies' second run of the game.
The Cardinals were in line to put together one of their patented high-scoring innings in the second — loading the bases with no one out — but could only push one run across to cut the Tommie lead in half, 2-1.
Will Matthews (Geneva, Wis.) opened the second with his conference-leading 16th double of the season and moved to second on an
Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) single through the left-side. Tepp then stole second — pushing the Cardinals' single-season program-record to 81 — and
Liam Belleveau (Middleton, Wis.) walked to load the bases. UST starter Andrew Tri induced
Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) to ground into a 4-6-3 double play, which allowed Matthews to score SMU's first run and cut the Tommies' lead to 2-1.
After being set down in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings, the Cardinals threated in the sixth. With one out, O'Brien was hit by a pitch — marking the third time in the last two games that the Cardinal sophomore has been hit by an offering. O'Brien then stole second and moved to third on a Tri balk.
Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) walked to put runners on first and third, but Tri wiggled out of the jam with a strikeout and a groundout to keep the Tommies in front, 2-1.
The Cardinals threatened again in the seventh — and this time, they would not be denied.
Tepp and Belleveau opened the inning with back-to-back singles up the middle, and Weber walked to load the bases with no one out. Costello walked on five pitches to plate Tepp and pull the Cardinals even, 2-2 — and send Tri to the showers.
Pinch-hitter
Taylor Anderson (Waukesha, Wis.) outdueled reliever Jeremy Klick, working the count full before recording the Cardinals' third straight walk of the inning — scoring Belleveau, and giving Saint Mary's its first lead of the game, 3-2.
The Cardinals continued to walk away from the Tommies — literally — as O'Brien made it four straight seventh-inning walks to make it 4-2. VanEgtern followed with a seeing-eye single to plate the Cardinals' fourth run of the inning. Klick escaped without further danger, getting Weinberg to strike out and Matthews to ground into an inning-ending double play.
St. Thomas welcomed Cardinal reliever
Addison Hochevar (West Geneva, Wis.) with three hits to open its half of the seventh — including a run-scoring double by Avery Lehman — to cut the Saint Mary's lead to two, 5-3, but the Cardinal freshman got a fly out to center to end the inning, and blanked the Tommies in the eighth.
Saint Mary's tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth when VanEgtern reached on a two-out Tommie throwing error and scored on a Weinberg RBI single.
Mike Wallace opened the bottom of the ninth with an infield single off reliever
Kodey Kiel (Owatonna, Minn.), the Cardinals' third pitcher of the afternoon. Kiel induced Matthew Enck into a fielder's choice groundout for the first out, struck out Sam Kulesa for out No. 2, and iced the win by getting Lehman to foul out to Matthews at first.
Belleveau — coming off a 3-for-5, career-high five-RBI performance against Gustavus on Thursday — went 2-for-3 with a run scored, while Tepp also had a two-hit day for the Cardinals. VanEgtern, Weinberg, and Matthews had Saint Mary's other three hits.
Mercado picked up the pitching wins, allowing just the two first-inning runs on six hits, while walking two and striking out five. Hochevar surrendered one run on four hits I ntwo innings of work, with Kiel picking up his team-leading fourth save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
