WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's baseball team held Macalester to just five runs in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader Saturday afternoon at frigid Max Molock Field.
That was the good news.
The bad news? The Cardinals only managed one run over 15 innings against the Scots — while stranding 18 runners on base — in dropping both ends of the teams' conference twinbill.
Macalester broke a 1-1 tie with a run in the top of the eighth inning in securing the 2-1, Game 1 victory, while holding the Cardinals scoreless on four hits in completing the sweep with a 3-0 victory in the nightcap.
GAME 1: EIGHTH-INNING HEARTBREAK
After surrendering back-to-back singles to lead off the second inning starter
Luke Gilbertson (Windom, Minn.) nearly worked his way out of the jam, inducing a 6-4-3 double play, only to have Hayes Waddell lift a double to deep left to plate the game's first run and give Macalester a 1-0 lead.
The Cardinals threatened in the bottom of the fourth, getting a pair of two-out singles from
Mason Coyle (Madison, Wis.) and
Tanner Bauman (Willmar, Minn.). The two moved to second and third on a wild pitch, but Macalester starter Thomas Windels escaped unscathed, getting
Brandon Merfeld (La Crosse, Wis.) to strike out to end the threat — and preserved the 1-0 Scot lead.
Saint Mary's put two more runners on with two outs in the fifth —
Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) belted a double and
Daniel Marxen (Maple Grove, Minn.) was hit by a pitch — but for the second straight innings, the Scots wiggled out of the jam, as reliever Declan Elias induced an inning-ending groundout to second.
The third time proved to be the charm for the Cardinals, as they once again put two runners on with two outs in the sixth. This time, however, SMU's
Tyler O'Brien (Belle Plaine, Minn.) came up with the clutch hit, singling to score Coons from second to knot the game at 1-1.
After being held scoreless since plating their first run back in the second inning, the Scots broke the deadlock in the top of the eighth, taking advantage of a one-out Cardinal fielding error and getting an RBI double from Michael Moreno to seal the 2-1 win.
Weber finished 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored to pace the Saint Mary's offensive attack, while O'Brien, Coyle, Bauman, Marxen, and
Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) accounted for the other four SMU hits.
GAME 2: OFFENSIVE HIBERNATION
The Scots managed just four hits off Cardinal starter
Addison Hochevar (Lake Geneva, Wis.) through the first five innings in Game 2 – but were able to parlay those four hits into solo runs in the first and fourth innings.
Saint Mary's, meanwhile, managed just one hit — a VanEgtern first-inning single — over that same time frame against Macalester right-hander Peter Aspholm, leaving the Cardinals staring at a 2-0 deficit heading to the sixth.
Macalester pushed its advantage to 3-0 in the top half of the sixth, as Lian Lincoln delivered a one-out run-scoring double, but Hochevar escaped without any further damage, leaving runners on second and third — thanks to back-to-back, inning-ending strikeouts.
Riding the momentum of Hochevar's Houdini act in the top of the sixth, the Cardinal offense finally showed signs of life in the bottom of the frame. VanEgtern welcomed reliever Ryan Przespolewski with his second hit of the game. Weber was then hit by a pitch and Marxen loaded the bases — and chased Prezespolewski — with a single to right. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the threat ended as quickly as it began, as Ben Levinson came on to record a strikeout and a groundball double play to close out the inning.
Coyle gave the Cardinals one last breath of life in the bottom of the seventh, drawing a lead-off walk, but was quickly erased when Levinson induced another groundball double play. Brandon Merfeld (La Crosse, Wis.) followed with a walk and O'Brien delivered a two-out single. The two advanced to second and third on a Levinson balk, but were stranded when VanEgtern grounded out to foil SMU's comeback hopes.
VanEgtern finished with two of Saint Mary's four hits in the nightcap, with O'Brien and Marxen accounting for the other two. Hochevar took the loss on the mound, despite allowing just three runs on five hits over the game's first six innings.
The Cardinals (4-4 MIAC, 12-13 overall) are back in action on Tuesday, when they play host to Hamline in the first of back-to-back home doubleheaders. Following Tuesday's 2:30 p.m. matchup against the Pipers, Saint Mary's will welcome Augsburg to Max Molock Field for a 2:30 p.m. contest the following afternoon.
