• IN THE OPENER: The Cardinals erupted for 15 runs on 18 hits — including a two-run, ninth-inning home run by Andy Tepp that broke a 13-13 tie and carried SMU to a 15-13 win over second-seeded Aurora. … Joey Costello and Taylor Anderson each had career-high four-hit games against the Spartans, while Tepp and Liam Belleveau both chipped in three hits.
• HOW THEY GOT HERE: The Cardinals earned a spot in the NCAA Regional by winning the MIAC Playoff championship, beating St. Thomas 6-3 in the title game. SMU finished the six-team tournament 4-1 to earn its first-ever MIAC Playoff Title.
• A LONG TIME COMING: Saint Mary's appearance in the NCAA Regional marks the first time since 1993 that the Cardinals have qualified for the national tournament. Saint Mary's finished 4-2 in regional play that year, falling to UW-Oshkosh 6-0 in the opener, before bouncing back with wins over UW-Whitewater (5-3), Concordia (12-7), and UW-Oshkosh (4-2), before falling to the Titans 5-2 in the championship game.
• REGIONAL FOES:?Saint Mary's has only faced two of the other five teams in the regional. The Cardinals lost to Aurora 4-0 in their last meeting on March 16, 2018, while sweeping the University of Northwestern 4-1 and 10-5 on March 18, 2015. SMU?has never faced Johns Hopkins, Trinity (Texas) or Misericordia.
• MAKING HISTORY: The Cardinals' win over Aurora on Friday was their program-record 30th of the season. SMU surpassed the previous single-season record of 28 with its 6-3 win over St. Thomas in the MIAC Playoff title game on May 22. … Saint Mary's has now won 20 or more games five times under current head coach Nick Winecke. … Speaking of records, the Cardinals have stolen a program-record 86 bases on 103 attempts. … SMU also broke the single-season school record for games played with their 44th game on Friday. Individually, Matthews is tied for the with Willie Doll '16 for the single-season record in doubles (17), and Tyler O'Brien has shattered the program marked for times hit by a pitch with 16. Justin Weinberg is currently sitting third all-time in career hits with 182. He trails Willie Doll '16 (220) and Ben Buerkle '17 (233).
• ON A ROLL: The Cardinals enter their winner's bracket NCAA Regional game having won five of their last six, eight of their last 10, and nine of their last 12.
ª STREAK-SNAPPING: Saint Mary's first 6-3 win over St. Thomas in the MIAC Playoffs on May 21 snapped a five-game losing streak against the Tommies, while the Cardinals' 17-5 win over Gustavus a day earlier ended a three-game, post-season slump against the Gusties.
• AT THE PLATE: Weinberg is the Cardinals' offensive leader, owning a team-best .340 batting average among players with 100 or more at-bats, while Matthews is close behind at .331 and Anderson and Tepp are sitting at .325 and .308, respectively. … Weinberg also enters Saturday's game leading the team in at-bats (153), runs (40), and hits (52). … Matthews is the team-leader in doubles (17), total bases (77), slugging percentage (.520), while Anderson owns team-highs in walks (21) and on-base percentage (.424). …
• STRINGING IT TOGETHER: Weinberg boasts a team-best 16 multiple-hit games, one more than Matthews. Weinberg, Costello, and Anderson have all put together four-hit games this season. Tepp leads the team lead with 11 multiple-hit games.
• RUNNING THE BASES: Tepp enters NCAA play riding an 11-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in each of the Cardinals' last 24 games. Joey Costello had his season- and career-high 13-game hit streak snapped against St. Thomas on May 21, but has been on base in 17 straight games.
• GOING YARD: Tepp and Weinberg each hit home runs against Aurora on Friday — it was Saint Mary's second multi-home run game of the year. … Weinberg and Matthews lead the team with three home runs each, one more than both Belleveau and Tyler O'Brien, while Tepp and Jack Arndt (Coon Rapids, Minn.) own the other two. … Belleveau's HR vs. Concordia on April 17, and O'Brien's and Arndt's round-trippers against Augsburg on April 11, were all collegiate firsts.
• OFFENSIVE FIRST-TIMERS: Along with Costello and Anderson's first collegiate four-hit games — recorded against Aurora Friday — Saint Mary's boasts two other players who have recorded their first collegiate three-hit games this season — O'Brien, and Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.). … Zach Drake's four runs scored in the nightcap against Crown on March 29 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. … Belleveau drove in a career-high five runs against Gustavus on May 20 — the most RBIs in a game by a Cardinal this season. VanEgtern, meanwhile, drove in a career-high four runs in SMU's 14-6, Game 2 loss to the Oles on April 24 — it's the Cardinals' only four-RBI game this season.
• ON THE MOUND: Luke Gilbertson (7-0, 3.38 ERA) and Ryan Wolfe (7-3, 4.23 ERA) have been the workhorses of the Cardinal pitching staff, tossing 66.2 and 61.2 innings, respectively. … Gilbertson and Wolfe share the team lead with seven pitching wins, while Addison Hochevar has made a team-best 14 pitching appearances. … Jonathan Cieminski leads the Cardinal staff in strikeouts with 41, including a career-high seven in 3.1 innings of relief against Concordia on May 19. … Kodey Kiel picking up his team-leading fifth save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning against Aurora Friday night.
• GOING THE DISTANCE: Gilbertson has thrown a team-leading three complete games — all nine-inning affairs — while Wolfe has tallied a pair of complete games. The duo own all five of Saint Mary's complete games this season.
• PITCHING MILESTONES: Gilbertson notched a complete-game, six-hit shutout in Game 2 against Macalester on April 22 for his first collegiate complete game, and first collegiate shutout. … Wolfe tossed a complete-game, one-hit shutout against Augsburg on April 10. Wolfe faced just 22 batters — one over the minimum, and allowed one a third-inning single. It was his third career shutout and fifth career complete game. … Wolfe hurled four innings of one-run, four-hit relief in the MIAC Playoff title game for his first save of his five-year collegiate career. … Justin Haugo (1-1, 1.80 ERA) collected his first collegiate pitching win against Augsburg on April 11, tossing four innings of shutout relief in the Cardinals' 5-4 victory. … Hochevar (4-1, 2.10 ERA) earned his first win as a Cardinal against Augsburg on March 16, and notched his first collegiate save against Hamline on . … Jordan Zabel (Elgin, Minn. / 2.2, 5.25 ERA) collected his first collegiate pitching win against Gustavus on March 26. … Cieminski (1-1, 3.38 ERA) recorded his first collegiate save in the nightcap against Carleton on April 6. …
• PITCHING CAROUSEL: Saint Mary's used a single-game, program-record nine pitchers in its 11-10 win over Carleton on May 12. Four days later, SMU used seven pitchers — one in each inning — in its 6-1 loss to Augsburg last Sunday.
• BY THE NUMBERS: The Cardinals had seven players score two or more runs in their 17-5 MIAC Playoff win over Gustavus on May 21. Weinberg and Matthews each scored three times, while O'Brien, Anderson, Tepp, Costello, and Drake all scored twice. … Saint Mary's 18 hits against Aurora on Friday matched their season-high, matching the 18 hits against Carleton on April 12. … The Cardinals' 17 runs against Gustavus on May 20 were a season high — and the most scored in a game since plating 19 against Finlandia on March 1, 2017. Saint Mary's has now scored 10 or more runs in a game seven times this season. … Saint Mary's has played 14 games decided by two runs or less — including seven one-run contests. SMU is 6-1 in those seven one-run games. … Saint Mary's 8-7, 10-inning win over Concordia on April 17 is the Cardinals' first extra-inning game of the season. … Saint Mary's is 15-0 when holding its opponent to two runs or less — and 18-2 when scoring the game's first run. … SMU is 24-1 when leading after six innings, and 16-1 when leading heading into the eighth. … 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. |
• IN THEIR OPENER: Northwestern put together three, two-run innings in beating third-seeded Misericordia 6-3. … Andrew Simonson, Sam Peterson, and Keegan Vercoe — the top three batters in the Eagles' lineup — all had three hits Friday evening.
• HOW THEY GOT HERE: Northwestern captured its first-ever Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament title, beating St. Scholastica 10-1. With the win, the Eagles earned their first-ever trip to the NCAA regional tournament.
• RECORD-SETTING WIN: Not only did the Eagles' 10-1 win over St. Scholastica in the UMAC title game earn Northwestern its first NCAA regional appearance, it was all the program's record-setting 32nd win of the season. UNW enters its winner's bracket game against Saint Mary's sitting at 33-10 overall.
• ON A ROLL: The Eagles have won four straight and 18 of their last 20 — including a season-high 13-game winning streak. After opening the season with three straight losses, Northwestern has won 32 of its last 39 games.
• HOME SWEET HOME: The host Eagles are 22-5 at Reynolds Field this season, home to this year's NCAA Regional.
• AT THE PLATE: As a team, the Eagles are hitting .305 and boast seven players hitting above .300 — Bryce Crabb (.389), Aaron Severson (.339), Philip Wall (.333), Sam Peterson (.330), Keegan Vercoe (.326), Mason Skrede (.303), and Wyatt Morrell (.301). … UNW has scored 327 runs and collected 412 hits in 42 games. … UNW owns 147 extra-base hits — 103 doubles, 17 triples and 27 home runs.
• LEADING THE WAY: Andrew Simonson is the Eagles' leader in at-bats (166) runs (52), and hits (51). … Peterson has clubbed a team-best 14 doubles, one more than Severson, Skrede, and Simonson.
• HEAVY HITTER: Vercoe has to do a lot of running when he makes contact, owning a team-best four triples and 12 of the Eagles' 27 home runs. He is also the team-leading in slugging percentage at .681.
• BASE-STEALING MACHINE: Northwestern has stolen 113 bases this season, and has five players who have swiped 10 or more bases this season, led by Simoson with 26, and Crabb and Vercoe with 19 each.
• MORE THAN ONE: Vercoe is the team-leader in both multiple-hit and multiple-RBI games with 14 each. Vercoe has recorded four, three-hit games and eight three-RBI games this season.
• STREAKING: Crabb and Peterson have each put together hitting streaks of 10 or more games this season, but no Eagle owns a current streak longer than four games. Peterson and Crabb also reached base safely in 22 straight games earlier this season. Morrell has reached safely in each of UNW's last nine games — the longest active run.
• ON THE MOUND: The Eagles boast three pitchers who have logged more than 60 innings this season — Phillip Wall (71.1 IP), Bryce Crabb (70.2 IP), and Owen Boerema (65.1 IP). … As a staff, the Eagles own a 3.24 ERA and opponents are hitting just .236.
• BUSY, BUSY, BUSY: Northwestern has five pitchers who have made 10 or more appearances on the mound, led by Wall (11), Crabb (11), and Aaron Severson (11).
• GOING THE DISTANCE: Crabb (9-3, 1.27 ERA) has tossed a team-leading five complete gams, with Boerema (6-1, 2.20 ERA) and Wall (5-3, 2.52 ERA) tossing four and three-complete games, respectively. … Crabb — whose eight wins are a team high — and Boerema have tossed the team's two complete-game shutouts.
• FANNING THE FLAMES: As a pitching staff, Northwestern has struck out 301 batters, with Boerema (79) and Crabb (62) leading the strikeout brigade.
• BY THE NUMBERS: The Eagles have scored 10 or more runs 15 times this season — including a season-high 24-run outburst in dropping Martin Luther 24-4 on April 22. … UNW's top two offensive performances this season have come against Martin Luther. Along with their 24-4 win on April 22, the Eagles also plated 19 runs in beating the Knights 19-0 on April 1. … Northwestern has been held to two runs or less in seven of its 10 losses this season.
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