ROSEVILLE, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team has embraced its role as David during their post-season run through Goliath after Goliath.
 
First, there was second-seeded Gustavus in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs. End result, David 17, Goliath 5.
 
Then came three straight showdowns against Goliath No. 2, top-seeded St. Thomas. The end result, David slayed Goliath twice — including 6-3 in the title game to earn its first-ever NCAA tournament berth in 28 years.
 
And in their tournament-opener Friday afternoon, the Cardinals were once again in character, going up against the tournament's No. 2 seed, Aurora — also known as Goliath No. 3.
 
After all, the Spartans entered regional play with a gaudy resume that included a 37-6 overall record, 168 extra-base hits, 43 home runs, and a pitching staff that had already struck out 317 batters.
 
The Cardinals needed to use every stone in their bag — and one final slingshot bomb by Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) — to slay yet another Goliath, as Saint Mary's felled the Spartans in a wild, 15-13 affair at Reynolds Field.
 
"It was one of these days, both teams were in a groove offensively — we knew it had the potential to be a slugfest," said Saint Mary's coach Nick Winecke. "The key was to try to match what (Aurora) did.
 
"This team is not one to get down — it's a nine-inning game, and if takes until the last out of the last inning to determine a winner, so be it," Winecke added. "We've said all year that if you have a group of individuals all going in the same direction, at the same time, with the same goal — you've got a chance."
 
With the score deadlocked at 13-13 — in a game that Saint Mary's squandered an early 5-0 lead and the Spartans couldn't hold an 11-5 advantage — Tepp stepped to the plate in the top of the ninth inning and delivered a no-doubt, two-run home run to deep left field to give the Cardinals the 15-13.
 
Kodey Kiel (Owatonna, Minn.) came on to work a perfect, 1-2-3 ninth — and the Cardinals were headed to Saturday's 6 p.m. winner's bracket game against the winner of Friday's final game between Misericordia and the University of Northwestern.
 
"It felt good off the bat," admitted Tepp, who quickly added, "but that was just one at-bat of what was a great team win — I could not have done what I did if not for the other guys.
 
"We knew every team here was going to be good, we just had to stick with it," Tepp added. "We've been resilient the whole year, why should today be any different?"
 
The Spartans threatened in their first at-bat — which might have been a sign of things to come — taking advantage of a little opening-inning jitters by Cardinal starter Luke Gilbertson (Windom, Minn.), who hit three Aurora batters to load the bases with one out. The junior right-hander worked out of the jam, however, inducing a pair of fly ball outs to end the inning unscathed.
 
And while the Spartans couldn't capitalize on their early opportunity, the Cardinals did.
 
Liam Belleveau (Middleton, Wis.) jump-started the Cardinals' second inning, lacing a one-out single to center and promptly stole second. Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) followed with a single to put runners at the corners, and Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) drove in the game's first run with SMU's third hit of the inning, scoring Belleveau from third for a 1-0 Saint Mary's lead.
 
And Saint Mary's was just getting warmed up.
 
Taylor Anderson (Waukesha, Wis.) led off the Saint Mary's third with a single, moved to second on a balk by Aurora starter Nick Malmberg. Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) launched a Malmberg offering over the left-field fence for a two-run home run and a 3-0 SMU lead. One out later, Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) singled and scored on a Belleveau triple and Weber followed with an RBI double off the wall in deep left to plate Tepp and push the lead to 5-0.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the five-run cushion wasn't nearly enough, as Aurora answered with eight runs in its half of the third to take an 8-5 lead.
 
Dylan White got things started for the Spartans with a one-out double. Collin Meinert hammered a two-run home run to left for Aurora's first two runs of the game — and a sign of things to come by the Spartan hitters.
 
Jacob Ambuel followed Meinert's home run with a double and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Reinhardt would walk and a single by Justin Sartori scored Ambuel with Aurora's third run of the inning. After Nico Bermeo was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Paul Dobravec singled to pull the Spartans within one, 5-4 — and the bases still loaded.
 
They weren't loaded for long, however, as Vondra blasted a Gilbertson pitch over the fence in left-center for a grand slam home run — and an 8-5 Spartan lead.
 
Aurora did not waste long getting back to hitting, setting down the Cardinals in order in the fourth, before tacking on three more runs to push its lead to 11-5.
 
Ambuel reached on an error to kick off the AU fourth. Sartori added a one-out single and, for the second straight inning, Bermeo was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Cardinal reliever Addison Hochevar (West Geneva, Ill.) got a ground out for the second out of the inning, only to have Vondra follow up his grand slam in the third inning by lacing a bases-clearing triple to push the Spartans' advantage to 11-5.
 
Unfazed by the Spartans' 11 unanswered runs, the Cardinals loaded up their slingshot and began firing back.
 
Tepp led off the fifth with a single and back-to-back walks by Belleveau and Weber loaded the bases. Alex Strupp came on to pitch — and Costello welcomed him with his third hit of the afternoon, an RBI single up the middle to make it 11-6. Zach Drake (Holmen, Wis.) worked a five-pitch walk to score Belleveau with SMU's second run of the inning and O'Brien was hit by a pitch to score run No. 3.
 
Anderson cut the deficit to two, 11-9, with an RBI groundout to second and Weinberg followed with a sacrifice fly to right to score Drake and make it a one-run game.
 
With one swing of the bat, the Spartans' lead ballooned back to three, as Ambuel belted Aurora's third home run of the game, a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth to give the Spartans a 13-10 cushion with four innings to play.
 
Costello continued to feast on Spartan pitching, as the senior led off the Cardinals' seventh with his fourth straight hit — his first career four-hit game. Costello was wiped out at second on a Drake ground ball back to the pitcher, but, after O'Brien flew out for the second out of the inning, Anderson delivered a single up the middle, and Weinberg  rifled a shot to short that Meinert could not handle, allowing Drake to score an unearned run and make it a 13-11 Spartan lead.
 
After setting the Spartans down in order for the first time all day in the seventh, the Cardinals went back to work in the eighth, getting a one-out double by Belleveau. Weber draws a walk and Belleveau advances as the offering to Weber sails all the way to the backstop, putting runners at the corners with one out. Costello forced out Weber at second — allowing Weber to score — moved to second on a wild throw on the attempted double play, and scored the game-tying run on pinch-hitter Trevon VanEgtern's (La Crosse, Wis.) single up the middle.
 
And set up Tepp's ninth-inning heroics.
 
Costello and Anderson led the Cardinals' 18-hit attack, each collecting four hits, while Tepp went 3-for-6 with three runs scored and a pair of RBIs. Belleveau added a 3-for-4, four-run effort and Weber chipped in two hits in three at-bats.
 
"I'm excited for the program, for our alumni — for all of Saint Mary's," said Winecke of the team's tournament-opening win. "We said before we left that we were going to come here and enjoy the experience — but we are also coming here to have a chance to win games.
 
"By the time we wake-up tomorrow, this game is yesterday's box score, and we have to go back to work."