WIONNA, Minn. —It's been nearly two weeks since the Saint Mary's University baseball team had played a game — but you never would have known that based on their performance against UW-Superior Thursday afternoon.
The Cardinals banged out 11 hits, scored seven runs, and three SMU pitchers combined for a nine-inning, six-hit shutout, as Saint Mary's put an end to their three-game losing streak with a 7-0 nonconference win over the Yellowjackets at Max Molock Field.
Saint Mary's did all of its damage in two innings — scoring four runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth in securing the nonconference victory.
Mason Coyle (Madison, Wis.) and
Stephen Golden (Centerville, Minn.) delivered RBI singles and
Daniel Sherman (Richfield, Minn.) and Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) added a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring ground-out to highlight SMU's four-run fourth inning — giving SMU a lead it would not relinquish.
Coyle delivered another RBI single to highlight the Cardinals' three-run fifth, with
Sam Knickerbocker (Eau Claire, Wis.) chipping in a run-scoring single and
Will Boeckman (Big Lake, Minn.) driving in SMU's third run of the frame on a fielder's choice groundout.
Brinton Anderson (Pulaski, Wis.) led the SMU 11-hit attack, going 3-for-3, with a pair of runs scored, while Coyle collected two hits, scored twice, and drove in two.
And while the Cardinal offense was feasting on UW-Superior pitching,
Eric Stomberg (St. Paul, Minn.),
Maddox Cejka (Prairie du Chien, Wis.), and
Andrew Fischer (La Crosse, Wis.) were silencing the Yellowjacket bats in a big way.
Stomberg went the first 5 2/3 innings, scattering six hits, while walking four and striking out three. Cejka came on to end the sixth, and threw two no-hit innings in the seventh and eighth, with Fischer working a perfect ninth.
The Cardinals (7-7 overall) are back in action on Saturday, kicking off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 1 p.m. doubleheader against Hamline at Max Molock Field.
