ST. PETER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team found itself playing catch-up all afternoon in its nine-inning Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup against Gustavus.
 
Problem was, every time the Cardinals would catch up, the Gusties would once again pull away.
 
Saint Mary's rallied from two-run deficits twice — including pulling even at 4-4 in the top of the eighth inning — but couldn't overcome a third, as Gustavus broke that 4-4 tie with two runs in the bottom of the eighth in dealing the Cardinals a 6-4 setback in the team's conference finale Sunday.
 
The Gusties broke a scoreless deadlock with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning off Cardinal starter Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) to take a 2-0 advantage.
 
An advantage the Cardinals promptly erased in their next at-bat — scoring once on a Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) sacrifice fly, and adding a second when Tyler O'Brien (Belle Plaine, Minn.) scored on a passed ball — to even the score at 2-2.
 
Gustavus put up its second two-run inning of the afternoon in its half of the sixth to retake the lead, 4-2.
 
And once again the Cardinals clawed their way back — scoring a solo run in the seventh on a Zach Drake (Westby, Wis.) RBI ground-out and adding a single run in the eighth on an Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) double — to knot the game at 4-4.
 
The Gusties posted two-run inning No. 3 in their half of the eighth — on a two-run single by Dalton Thelen — and this time around, the Cardinals had no answer, getting the tying run to the plate, only to have GAC reliever Damon Rademacher induce a ground-out back to the mound and a strikeout to end the threat, and the game.
 
Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) led the Cardinals' offensive attack, going 3-for-4, while Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) had two hits, and Tepp, Connor Cornell (Plymouth, Minn.), and Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) all had one.
 
The Cardinals (16-9 MIAC, 22-12 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, traveling to Northfield, Minn., for a nine-inning, nonconference game against Carleton.