WINONA, Minn. — After having games against Augsburg postponed three times this week, the Saint Mary's University baseball team tried its luck against a different opponent Saturday afternoon.
And while Mother Nature cooperated, the Cardinals came away with mixed results in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against St. Olaf.
Saint Mary's got a two-out, walk-off single by pinch-hitter
Bob Tilot to break a 4-4 stalemate and leading the Cardinals to a 5-4, 10-inning victory over St. Olaf in the first game. Game 2, however, wasn't quite as memorable, as St. Olaf pitcher Sam Westermeyer limited Saint Mary's to just one hit — a fourth-inning single — as the Oles left Max Molock Field with a 9-0 victory, and a split of the team's twinbill.
GAME 1: WINNING IN DRAMATIC FASHION
The Cardinals came out swinging in the opener, scoring three times in their first at-bat off St. Olaf starter Sam Lavin.
Tyler O'Brien (Belle Plaine, Minn.) and
Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) welcomed Lavin with back-to-back singles to open the game. A one-out walk to
Jake Mercado (Belle Plaine, Minn.) loaded the bases, and
Ben Coons (Kimberly, Wis.) induced a second straight free pass, scoring O'Brien with the game's first run.
Mason Coyle (Madison, Wis.) followed with a two-run double to left to push the Cardinal advantage to 3-0 after their first at-bat.
Over the next four innings, however, the Cardinals would manage just one hit off the Ole right-hander — a Coyle single in the fifth. Saint Mary's got singles from
Daniel Marxen (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Coons — and had runners on second and third with two outs — in the sixth, but came up empty.
Three runs appeared to be more than enough for Cardinal starter
Luke Gilbertson (Windom, Minn.), who blanked the Oles through five innings – and carried a 3-1 cushion to the mound to open the seventh.
With one swing of the bat, however, that cushion had vanished, as Andrew Nomoto launched a Gilbertson offering over the fence in left to turn that 3-1 Cardinal lead into a 4-3 Ole advantage.
Brandon Merfeld (La Crosse, Wis.) led off the Saint Mary's seventh by singling. He stole second, moved to third on an O'Brien single, and scored when VanEgtern grounded into a double play — sending the game into extra innings, and setting up Tilot's 10th-inning heroics.
Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) got things rolling for the Cardinals in the 10th with a two-out single. He stole second, and after
Jack Arndt (Coon Rapids, Minn.) was intentionally walked, Tilot delivered a run-scoring single to give Saint Mary's the victory.
O'Brien and Coons each had two hits to lead the Saint Mary's offensive attack, with six different Cardinals accounting for the other six SMU hits.
Andrew Fischer (La Crosse, Wis.) who worked three innings of perfect relief — walking one and striking out four — to pick up the pitching win.
GAME 2: THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE
The Cardinals were no match for Westermeyer in the nightcap, as the senior right-hander kept Saint Mary's hitters off balance from start-to-finish in posting the complete-game victory.
And the Oles gave their ace plenty of run support, scoring in every inning but the first and the seventh en route to their first conference win of the season.
St. Olaf struck early against Cardinal starter
Addison Hochevar (Lake Geneva, Wis.) plating a pair of runs in the second, before adding solo tallies in both the third and fourth. The Oles scored three more runs in the fifth and rounded out the scoring with a two-run sixth.
Weber collected Saint Mary's lone hit off of Westermeyer — a fourth-inning single — while Weber, Marxen, and Coons all reached base via walks to account for Saint Mary's other three base-runners.
The Cardinals (3-1 MIAC, 11-10 overall) are back in action on Tuesday, when they welcome Augsburg to Max Molock Field for a 2:30 p.m. conference doubleheader.
