WINONA, Minn. – It's been said that numbers don't lie, and after its two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games against Saint John's, it's hard for the Saint Mary's University baseball team to argue.
To a point.
The Johnnies headed into Wednesday doubleheader sitting at 13-5 when hitting at least one home run — and thanks to a first-inning home run by Max Nyrop, that mark improved to 14-5, as SJU launched its 42nd home run of the season in the first inning of a 10-1, Game 1 victory.
Saint John's launched two more round-trippers in the nightcap, but that's where the numbers went off the rails, as Saint Mary's rallied from a 4-2 deficit, scoring single runs in the fifth and sixth, and adding a game-winning three runs in the seventh, en route to a 7-5 victory in the nightcap at Max Molock Field.
GAME 1: BRANDECKER SILENCES CARDINALS
The Johnnies showcased their propensity for the long ball in their first at-bat, as Max Nyrop launched a
Luke Gilbertson (Windom, Minn.) offering over the fence in deep left-center — a two-run shot — to give SJU the early 2-0 lead.
Saint Mary's scratched a run across in the bottom of the second, loading the bases with one out and plating one run on a
Brandon Merfeld (La Crosse, Wis.) RBI fielder's choice, only to have Saint John's answer with a pair of two-out, run-scoring singles to expand its lead to three, 4-1.
The Johnnies iced the Game 1 win in the sixth, taking advantage of two Cardinal errors and a bases-clearing, three-run double by Soren Roe to pad their lead to 10-1.
Nathan Brandecker worked out off a first-and-second, two-out jam in the sixth and set the Cardinals down in order in the seventh to record the complete-game win. Brandecker held the Cardinals to singles from
Daniel Marxen (Maple Grove, Minn.),
Tyler O'Brien (Belle Plaine, Minn.),
Ben Coons (Kimberly, Wis.) and
Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) en route to his team-leading sixth win of the year.
GAME 2: SEVENTH HEAVEN
The Johnnies waited until the second inning before putting on their home run-hitting shoes in Game 2, as Soren Roe blasted a three-run shot off Cardinal starter
Addison Hochevar (Lake Geneva, Wis.) to give SJU a quick 3-0 advantage.
Saint Mary's answered SJU's three runs in the top of the second with two of their own in the bottom of the frame.
Mason Coyle (Madison, Wis.) and
Will Boeckman (Big Lake, Minn.) opened the inning with back-to-back doubles and Coons added a one-out sacrifice fly to get the Cardinals within one, 3-2.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, unlike Game 1, the Johnnies weren't satisfied with one round-tripper in the nightcap, as Jordan Amundson drilled SJU's second HR of the game — and their conference-leading 44th of the season — in the third to make it 4-2.
The Cardinals loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth — thanks to back-to-back-to-back walks to
Tanner Bauman (Willmar, Minn.), Merfeld, and O'Brien — and got a sacrifice fly from Weber to get within one, 4-3, before Bauman delivered a two-out single in the sixth to knot the game at 4-4.
And then came the seventh inning — and a Cardinal offensive resurgence.
Saint Mary's took the lead for good in the seventh, scoring three times off reliever Isaac Harrell. Weber laced a one-out double, stole third, and scored on a
Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) single to put SMU in front, 5-4. An SJU fielding error on a ball hit by Coyle put runners on second and third with two out, and Marxen plated both SMU runners with a single through the left side to give the Cardinals a 7-4 cushion.
Saint John's got one run back in the top of the eighth, only to have
Dylan Westcott (Holmen, Wis.) come in to shut the door, working a scoreless ninth for his fifth save of the season.
Boeckman and Merfeld finished with two hits each, while Weber, VanEgtern, Coyle, Marxen, and Bauman accounted for the Cardinals' other five.
Timmy Smith (South St. Paul, Minn.) picked up the pitching win, allowing one run on five hits in three innings of relief.
The Cardinals (8-8 MIAC, 16-17 overall) step out of conference play on Sunday, heading to Mankato, Minn. for a nine-inning, nonconference game against Bethany Lutheran, before closing out the regular season with conference doubleheaders at Concordia next Wednesday and at Carleton on May 8.
