DUNDAS, Minn. — It took an extra couple of days for Mother Nature to cooperate, but for the Saint Mary's University baseball team, it was worth the wait.
SMU scored in every inning — including a four-run first, a five-run third, and an eight-run sixth — they took advantage of seven Carleton errors, and set a single-game school record with 11 stolen bases, as the Cardinals cruised to a lopsided 22-2 victory in the opening game of the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader.
Game 2 did not have the same "comfort level," but the end result was the same, as Saint Mary's rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to complete the sweep with a 9-3 win in the nightcap.
GAME 1: SAINT MARY'S 22, CARLETON 2
Saint Mary's did not take long to erase its "0" on the scoreboard, plating four runs in the Cardinals' very first at-bat.
Ryan Csida (Kimberly, Wis.) kicked things off with a lead-off double, and scored on a throwing effort by Carleton pitcher Will Schnepf.
Mason Coyle (Madison, Wis.) drove in SMU's second run with an RBI single, and, one out later,
Riley Bauman (Stratford, Wis.) blasted a run-scoring, stand-up triple to score Coyle. Carleton's second error of the frame, this one by Knights' catcher Jack Hommeyer, allowed Bauman to score to give SMU a commanding 4-0 lead after half an inning.
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Brinton Anderson (Pulaski, Wis.) sacrifice fly extended SMU's lead to 5-0 in the second, and
Stephen Golden (Centerville, Minn.) launched his first home run as a Cardinal — a one-out shot in the third — to push across SMU's sixth run of the afternoon.
And the Cardinals were not finished.
Three more Carleton errors — not to mention
Cameron Weber's (Holmen, Wis.) single-game school-record fourth stolen base — fueled a five-run fourth inning, as Saint Mary's lead ballooned to 11-0.
Carleton foiled SMU starter
Dylan Westcott's (La Crosse, Wis.) shutout bid with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, only to have Saint Mary's respond with a single run in the top of the fifth — without the benefit of a hit — to make it a 12-2 SMU advantage.
Saint Mary's scored for the sixth consecutive inning in the sixth — loading the bases with no one out on a lead-off single by Golden, a walk to
Cam Miller (Kimberly, Minn.), and a single by Tanner Bowman (Willmar, Minn.) — before Csida laced a two-run single, Coyle delivered a two-run double, and
Riley Bauman and Golden launched back-to-back two-run home runs to make it 20-2.
A one-out bases-loaded walk to pinch-hitter
Alex Crusan (Bloomington, Minn.) and a two-out hit batsmen pushed across two more runs to round out the 22-2 victory.
Overshadowed by the Cardinals' 22 runs — the most since scoring 23 against Graceland in a 23-3 win on March 25, 1995 — was the fact that SMU posted a single-game school record with 11 stolen bases, including a single-game record four by Weber.
Golden — whose two home runs marked the first time SMU had a multiple-home run game since Ben Buerkle and Jake Barry each hit two round-trippers during the 2017 season – finished with a team-high three hits, while Csida,
Riley Bauman, Miller, and
Tanner Bauman all chipped in two hits and
Riley Bauman delivered a season-best four RBIs.
Westcott picked up the pitching win in Game 1, improving to 2-0 on the year — allowing two runs on four hits.
GAME 2: SAINT MARY'S 9, CARLETON 3
The nightcap didn't start quite the same way for the Cardinals, who were held off the scoreboard for the first five innings — and found themselves staring at a 2-0 deficit.
Carleton snapped its scoreless string at seven straight with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning in Game 2, before Saint Mary's finally got its offense on track in the sixth. Weber opened the inning with a single, stole second, and scored on a double to center by Coyle.
The Knights, however, regained their two-run lead in the bottom of the sixth, scoring a solo run on two hits to make it 3-1.
Saint Mary's returned to Game 1 form in the seventh, scoring four times to take its first lead of the game, 4-3. Miller opened the inning with a walk, and moved to third on back-to-back wild pitches. Csida walked and stole second, and both scored on a Weber single up the middle. Anderson followed with an RBI single to right-center and
Riley Bauman delivered a run-scoring double to right to give SMU a 5-3 advantage.
Saint Mary's padded its lead to three with a solo run in the eighth — thanks to
Tanner Bauman's two-out triple down the rightfield line and a run-scoring single by Csida — and the Cardinals tacked on three more in the top of the ninth on a wild pitch and a two-run single by
Tanner Bauman to make it a 9-3 SMU lead.
Weber, coming off a school-record four stolen base effort in the opener, added three more steals in the nightcap, while also adding three hits in five at-bats, to pace the SMU 13-hit attack. Anderson also finished with three hits, while Csida and Tyler Bauman chipped in a pair of hits.
Maddox Cejka (Prairie du Chien, Wis.) earned his first collegiate pitching win, scattering six hits — while allowing three runs — while striking out five and walking one.
Andrew Fischer (La Crosse, Wis.) allowed one run in two innings of scoreless relief in collecting his first save of the season.
The Cardinals (4-0 MIAC, 11-7 overall) — winners of five straight — are right back in action on Saturday, heading to Macalester's Nicholson Field in St. Paul, Minn., for a 1 p.m. MIAC doubleheader against the Scots.
