ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — It took a little while for the Saint Mary's University baseball team's offense to thaw out, but once they did, the Cardinal bats were sizzling.
Playing in temperatures hovering below 40 degrees with a chilly northwest wind proved to be too much for the Cardinals in Game 1 of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader.
And then came Game 2 — with a much more favorable Cardinal outcome.
The Royals put together three, two-run innings — and took advantage of eight walks issued by two Saint Mary's pitchers — in capturing the opener, 6-2. Saint Mary's would rebound in the nightcap, scoring in each of the game's first six innings — including three times in the sixth — en route to an 8-6 victory at Hargis Park.
GAME ONE: DUECES ARE WILD
The Royals jumped to an early lead in the opener, scoring two runs on three hits off Cardinal starter
Jordan Zabel (Elgin, Minn.) in the bottom of the second inning. The damage could have been much worse, but Zabel worked out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam — getting Justin Winterfeldt to fly out to center to end the inning.
Bethel put together its second two-run inning of the game in the fourth — getting an RBI single from Tommy Friesen and a bases-loaded walk to Jordan Krupke — and followed that up with two-run inning No. 3 in the fifth to push its lead to 6-0.
The Cardinals finally broke through in the sixth, getting back-to-back singles by
Tyler O'Brien (Belle Plaine, Minn.) and
Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) to put runners on first and third with no one out. BU starter Marcus Krupke nearly escaped unscathed — getting a strikeout and a foul-ball out — only to have O'Brien foil his shutout bid, scoring on a passed ball.
Mason Coyle (Madison, Wis.) cut the deficit to 6-2 with his second home run of the season — a solo shot with one out in the top of the seventh — but that was as close as the Cardinals would get.
Ben Coons (Kimberly, Wis.) and
Brandon Merfeld (La Crosse, Wis.) both had two hits to fuel SMU's eight-hit attack, with O'Brien, VanEgtern, Coyle, and
Daniel Marxen (Maple Grove, Minn.) accounting for the other four.
GAME TWO: EASY AS 1-2-3 …
Saint Mary's turned the tables on the Royals early in the nightcap, getting on the board first — thanks to an RBI single by
Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) that scored VanEgtern, who reached on a one-out double to left-center.
The one-run first inning proved to be a theme the Cardinals would carry into the second, third, fourth — and fifth innings.
The Cardinals pushed their lead to 2-0 with an unearned run in the top of the second, but Bethel answered back with a run in its second at-bat. And it was more of the same in the third, with Saint Mary's getting an RBI single from Marxen to make it a 3-1 SMU lead, only to have Bethel respond with a solo run in the bottom of the third to cut the Cardinals' advantage to 3-2.
Saint Mary's made it 4-2 in the fourth, when VanEgtern delivered two-out double, and Coyle laced an RBI single in the fifth for the Cardinals' fifth straight one-run inning — and a 5-2 cushion.
After five innings, the Cardinals grew weary of the one-run-at-a-time approach, and in the sixth, decided to speed up the process a bit, getting a three-run home run from Marxen to pad their lead to 8-2.
The Royals would score a single run in the bottom of the sixth — and make things interesting by scoring three times, and leaving the bases loaded, in the bottom of the ninth — but it would not be enough, as BU lost for just the fourth time in 23 contests this season.
Saint Mary's boasted a season-high three players with three hits in Game 2, led by Marxen, who went 3-for-5 with four RBIs. VanEgtern and Weber also had three hits, while Coyle and
Jack Arndt (Coon Rapids, Minn.) both chipped in two hits.
Justin Haugo (Springfield, Minn.) picked up the pitching win, allowing four runs — two earned — on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings in relief of starter
Jake Mercado (Belle Plaine, Minn.).
Andrew Fischer (La Crosse, Wis.) came on with the bases loaded and two out and struck out BU's Nick Kulseth for his third save of the season.
The Cardinals (4-2 MIAC, 12-11 overall) are back in action on Friday — weather permitting — as Saint Mary's entertains Augsburg in a 2 p.m. conference doubleheader at Max Molock Field.
