WINONA, Minn. — Scoring first was not an advantage for the Saint Mary's and Gustavus baseball teams Sunday afternoon.
More like a disadvantage.
The Cardinals scored first in the opener — and lost — and the Gusties did the same in the second, as the two teams battled to a conference split at Max Molock Field.
Saint Mary's scored in its first at-bat, and was unable to induce another player across home plate, as Gustavus scored five unanswered runs to beat the Cardinals 5-1 in Game 1. The Gusties scored twice in their first at-bat in the nightcap, only to have SMU score five on the final seven runs to earn the split with a 5-4 victory.
GAME 1: OFFENSIVE CHILL
The Cardinals got off on the right foot in Game 1, getting a two-out, RBI single by
Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) to score
Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) — who had opened the inning with a single — and give SMU a 1-0 lead.
Saint Mary's clung to that one-run advantage until the fifth, when GAC foiled Cardinal starter
Addison Hochevar's (Lake Geneva, Wis.) shutout bid with a solo run to knot the game at 1-1. GAC took the lead for good with three unearned runs in the sixth, before tacking on an insurance run in the seventh.
Weber had two of SMU's four Game 1 hits, with VanEgtern and
Daniel Marxen (Maple Grove, Minn.) accounting for the other two. Hochevar suffered the loss, despite allowing just one earned run, while walking two and striking out five in six innings of work.
GAME 2: THAT'S MORE LIKE IT
Gustavus came out swinging to open the second game — scoring two runs on three hits in its very first at-bat — only to have SMU answer with a two-run inning of its own in the second to knot the game at 2-2.
The Cardinals got back-to-back-to-back one-out singles by VanEgtern,
Will Boeckman (Big Lake, Minn.), and
Brandon Merfeld (La Crosse, Wis.) to score their first run in the second, while
Ryan Campbell (New Berlin, Wis.) belted an RBI single through the right side to pull Saint Mary's even, 2-2.
The two teams trade sole runs — Gustavus scoring once in the fourth and Saint Mary's answering with a
Mason Coyle (Madison, Wis.) RBI double in the fifth — before the Gusties grabbed a 4-3 lead with a solo home run off the bat of Drake Siens in the top of the sixth.
Gustavus' one-run advantage did not last long, however, as Saint Mary's answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame to take the lead for good. Merfeld reached on a one-out fielding error and
Patrick Schork (Janesville, Wis.) followed with a walk, and both scored when Campbell lacing a two-run triple down the right-field line.
Timmy Smith (West St. Paul, Minn.) pushed his record to 5-1, scattering 10 hits and allowing just three earned runs — while striking out two — in tossing a nine-inning complete game. SMU's 10 hits came from eight different players, with Merfeld and Campbell leading the way with two hits each.
Saint Mary's (3-9 MIAC, 7-17 overall) are now off until Friday, when they return to Max Molock Field for a 1 p.m. MIAC doubleheader against Concordia.
