AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Saint Mary's University baseball team could not keep the University of Dubuque away from the big innings in the teams' nine-inning nonconference game Tuesday afternoon.
The Spartans scored nine of their 11 runs in three innings — including a four-run fifth — as Dubuque handed the Cardinals an 11-2 setback.
The Spartans set the tone early, parlaying two hits and a Cardinal error into two runs in grabbing a 2-0 advantage.
Saint Mary's answered Dubuque's two-run first with a pair of runs of its own in the bottom of the inning.
Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) and
Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) both delivered one-out singles, and
Riley Bauman (Stratford, Wis.) drilled an RBI double and
Patrick Schork (Janesville, Wis.) added a run-scoring single to knot the game at 2-2.
Unfortunately for coach
Nick Winecke, that would be the extent of the Cardinals' run production, as SMU was held scoreless over the game's final eight innings, managing just four hits over those final eight frames.
Dubuque, meanwhile, had plenty of offensive fireworks left in its arsenal, scoring three times in the fourth and four more times in the fifth to grab a 9-2 advantage. The Spartans would tack on solo runs in the seventh and ninth innings to round out the scoring.
Weber and Schork both finished with two hits to lead the SMU offensive attack, with VanEgtern,
Riley Bauman,
Tanner Bauman (Willmar, Minn.), and
Brandon Merfeld (La Crosse, Wis.) accounting for the other four.
The Cardinals (1-3 overall) are off on Wednesday, before returning to the diamond for a nine-inning matchup against Calvin on Thursday. First pitch is slated for 1:30 p.m. (EST).
