WINONA, Minn. — The weather was far from ideal — with temperature hovering in the upper-30s the conditions were more conducive to an outdoor hockey game than a baseball contest — but it was a home-opener just the same for the Saint Mary's University baseball team Tuesday afternoon.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the cold temperatures did nothing to cool off the UW-La Crosse bats, as the Eagles rained on SMU's home-opening parade — putting together a pair of three-run innings, and addig a two-run ninth, in dealing the Cardinals a 9-4 nonconference setback at Max Molock Field.
 
UW-La Crosse grabbed the upper hand early, scoring three runs in the top of the third inning — two coming on a two-out, home run off the bat of Anthony Vivian — to put the Eagles out front 3-0.
 
The Cardinals offense, which managed just one hit through the first four innings, finally came to life in the fifth — in a big way.
 
Cam Miller (Kimberly, Wis.) opened the frame with a walk and scored on a Tanner Bauman (Willmar, Minn.) double to right field. A one-out sacrifice fly by Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) pulled SMU within one, 3-2, and Riley Bauman (Stratford, Wis.) followed with an RBI single to knot the game at 3-3. Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) capped SMU's four-run inning, scoring on a wild pitch to give SMU its first lead of the game, 4-3.
 
The lead was short-lived, however, as UW-La Crosse tagged SMU reliever TJ Bergland (Farmington, Minn.) for three hits — including a two-out, RBI single by Jack Olver — to pull the Eagles even, 4-4.
 
Saint Mary's had a golden opportunity to regain the lead in the bottom of the seventh, putting runners on second and third with no one out — thanks to back-to-back singles by Brandon Merfeld (La Crosse, Wis.) and Weber — but three straight ground-ball outs to third ended the threat, and kept the game deadlocked at 4-4.
 
UW-La Crosse, meanwhile, made the most of its final two at-bats, scoring three runs on four hits, and adding two more runs in the ninth to seal its 10th win of the season.
 
Saint Mary's managed just five hits off four UW-L pitchers, with five different Cardinals — Merfeld, Weber, VanEgtern, Riley Bauman, and Tanner Bauman — each collecting one hit.
 
The Cardinals (4-8 overall) are back in action on Saturday, when they kick off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a doubleheader against St. Scholastica. First pitch in the twinbill is slated for 1 p.m. at Max Molock Field.
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