ST. PAUL, Minn. — The first time the Saint Mary's University baseball team faced St. Olaf in the MIAC Playoffs, the Cardinals managed just one run on four hits in falling to the regular-seaosn champion Oles 11-1 in Thursday's opening game.
 
On Friday evening, the two teams met again — SMU coming off an offensive explosion of 19 runs in eliminating Saint John's 19-4, while the Oles were 14-2 losers to Bethel in the winner's bracket side of the double-elimination tournament.
 
And this time around, the Cardinals' offense was much more run-productive against the Oles — despite only getting five hits — as SMU scored nine times in the nine-inning affair.
 
The problem was, the Oles' offense enjoyed much the same success against SMU pitching as they did the previous afternoon, scoring 11 times for the second straight meeting in dealing Saint Mary's a season-ending 11-9 setback.
 
As was the case in the Cardinals' first game of the day, Saint Mary's wasted no time turning up the offensive heat, scoring twice in their first at-bat. A lead-off walk to Tanner Bauman (Willmar, Minn.) and back-to-back two-out walks to Riley Bauman (Stratford, Wis.) and Brinton Anderson (Pulaski, Wis.) loaded the bases for Mason Coyle (Madison, Wis.), who deposited a two-round single to left-center to give Saint Mary's the 2-0 advantage.
 
St. Olaf pulled even in the bottom of the third, getting a one-out walk from Cole Pleimann and a two-run home run from Breckin Hadley to knot the game at 2-2.
 
And once the Oles offense got rolling, the Cardinals would not slow it down.
 
St. Olaf took its first lead of the game one inning later, scoring five times in the bottom of the fourth — including a grand slam home run from Joey Glampe — and added a solo run in the fifth to snare an 8-2 advantage.
 
Saint Mary's collected its third run of the game in the top of the sixth, getting a lead-off double by Riley Bauman, and, one out later, the junior scored on a sacrifice fly by Stephen Golden (Centerville, Minn.) to whittle the Oles' lead to five, 8-3.
 
St. Olaf, however, did the Cardinals' sixth inning effort one better, scoring twice in the bottom of the frame, parlaying a one-out walk and back-to-back-to-back singles to extend its lead to seven, 10-3, with three innings to play.
 
Unfazed by the seven-run deficit, the Cardinals' offense kicked things into high gear in the seventh, scoring six times to get within one, 10-9.
 
Cam Miller (Kimberly, Wis.) opened the SMU seventh with a single and Daniel Sherman (Richfield, Minn.) followed with a walk. A St. Olaf error loaded the bases with no one out, and a Tyler Bauman (Willmar, Minn.) RBI single and a bases loaded free pass to Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) plated a pair of SMU runs — leaving the bases loaded with no one out.
 
Riley Bauman welcomed Ole reliever Kieran Haaland by lacing a run-scoring single to right-center, and three more runs scored on a pair of Ole errors and a fielder's choice groundout by Coyle to get the Cardinals within one, 10-9.
 
Both teams put a runner on the eighth via a walk — but only the Oles were able to capitalize.
 
Jack Anderson (Menomonie, Wis.) drew a one-out free pass in the top of the frame for SMU, but never got any further than first, while Frank Lavin walked to open the Oles' half of the inning and moved to third on a single by Evan Hammond, who moved to second on a wild pitch. Matthew Kulesa was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Sam Lavin drove in St. Olaf's first run of the inning with an RBI groundout to give the Oles a two-run cushion heading into the ninth.
 
Saint Mary's wasn't about to go down without a fight, getting a lead-off walk by Weber to open the ninth. That, however, is where the senior would remain, as St. Olaf closer Brock Brumley got the next three batters to line out, a fly out, and a ground out to end the threat — and the Cardinals' season.
 
Riley Bauman was the only Cardinal with more than one hit, going 2-for-4 with three runs scored, while Tanner Bauman, Coyle, and Miller all had one hit.
 
The Cardinals close out the season 21-18 overall, while St. Olaf improves to 29-13 overall, and advances to the MIAC Playoff championship on Saturday, where the Oles will have to beat Bethel twice to claim the post-season title.
 
 
 
 
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