WINONA, Minn. — It took a couple extra days to finally get Mother Nature to lighten up and allow the Saint Mary's University baseball team to get its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-opener against St. Scholastica played.
And for the Cardinals, it was worth the wait.
Saint Mary's limited the Saints to just two runs in both games of the teams' MIAC doubleheader — while plating 15 runs of their own — as the Cardinals rolled to 6-2 and 9-2 victories Monday afternoon at Max Molock Field.
GAME 1: DOUBLE FEATURE
The Cardinals spotted the Saints a 1-0 lead in CSS's first at-bat, but promptly regained the advantage in the second — thanks to a three-run, bases-loaded double by
Cam Miller (Kimberly, Wis.).
Saint Mary's opened the second with a walk to
Riley Bauman (Stratford, Wis.) and back-to-back singles by
Daniel Marxen (Maple Grove, Minn.) and
Mason Coyle (Madison, Wis.) — and Miller promptly cleared the bases with a laser down the left-field line to give SMU the lead for good.
Saint Mary's gave starting pitcher
Addison Hochevar (Lake Geneva, Wis.) some breathing room, scoring single runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings to seal the victory.
Miller and Coyle each finished with two hits to pace SMU's eight-hit Game 1 offensive attack, with Marxen,
Brandon Merfeld (La Crosse, Wis.),
Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.), and
Riley Bauman all delivering one hit — including an RBI double by Bauman.
Hochevar collected his first pitching win of the season, allowing one run in three hits, while walking four and striking out three in five innings of work.
Dylan Westcott (Holmen, Wis.) earned his second save of the year, blanking the Saints on one hit over the final two innings.
GAME 2: TURNING UP THE OFFENSIVE MUSCLE
The Cardinals picked up right where they left off in the second game, erupting for three runs in the bottom of the first and adding two more in the third for a quick, 5-0 advantage.
Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) and Marxen belted first-inning RBI singles and Coyle delivered a sacrifice fly to spot SMU a 3-0 lead after its first at-bat.
Riley Bauman smacked his team-leading third home run of the season — the first of SMU's two, two-run HRs in the nightcap — as the Cardinals' cushion ballooned to 5-0.
St. Scholastica got to Saint Mary's starter
Timmy Smith (South St. Paul, Minn.) for a pair of runs in the fifth, but that would be all they would get off the SMU senior. Smith picked up his team-leading fourth win of the year, scattering six hits and allowing just the two, fifth-inning runs in six innings of work.
Eric Stomberg (St. Paul, Minn.) collected the save, blanking CSS on one hit over the final three innings.
Clinging to that three-run lead, the Cardinals gave themselves a little breathing room, recording back-to-back two-run innings in the seventh and eighth innings — VanEgtern lacing an RBI single in the seventh and Coyle launching a towering two-run home run in the eight — to lock up the MIAC sweep.
Marxen went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored to pace the Saint Mary's Game 2 offense, while VanEgtern and
Riley Bauman both went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
The Cardinals (2-0 MIAC, 6-8 overall) are scheduled to be back in action on Friday — weather permitting — as they head to Saint John's Becker Park in Collegeville, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference showdown against the Johnnies.
