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2005 Record: 7-9 MIAC, 14-11 Overall
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| Last Week's Results: Saint Mary's 12, St. John's 8 / Details Saint Mary's 11, St. John's 7 (8) / Details Augsburg 10, Saint Mary's 0 / Details Augsburg 3, Saint Mary's 2 / Details |
| Upcoming Games: Tues., May 3: Saint Mary's at Viterbo, 3 p.m. Wed., May 4: Concordia at Saint Mary's, 1 p.m. Sun., May 8: St. Olaf at Saint Mary's, 1 p.m. Tues., May 10: Saint Mary's at Winona St., 6 p.m. |
| This and That: The Cardinals' 12-8 Game 1 win over St. John's last Thursday snapped their season-high three-game losing streak. … SMU's 12 runs vs. the Johnnies were the most scored by the Cardinals in a single game this season. … All 11 runs scored in Game 2 vs. the Johnnies came with two outs. … The Cardinals were shut out for just the second time this season in Saturday's Game 1 loss to Augsburg. … SMU's 12-8, 11-7 sweep of St. John's was its first DH sweep since the Cardinals posted 9-3, 6-4 victories over Gustauvs to open MIAC play on April 7. … Dan Cosgrove (South St. Paul, Minn.) hit .462 (6-for-13) with a pair of doubles and seven RBIs last week. Cosgrove also scored four runs and walked three times, and picked up the Game 2 pitching win vs. SJU, allowing one earned run in 4.2 innings of relief. … Matt Popek (Eagan, Minn.), who beat St. John's in Game 1, allowing three earned runs in tossing a complete game, leads the team in wins with five. … Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.) extended his career-best hitting streak to five straight by hitting safely in all four games last week. David Krieger (Mendota Heights, Minn.) also hit safely in all four games. … SMU is 12-1 when scoring six or more runs, but just 2-10 when scoring less than six runs. … The Cardinals are 11-1 when leading after the third inning. |
with back-to-back wins vs. SJU, 2 losses to Augsburg
WINONA, Minn. — Last Thursday afternoon, the Saint Mary's University baseball team had what coach Nick Whaley tabbed, "one of the most enjoyable days I've had on a baseball field ever."
Back-to-back wins over St. John's — including a Game 2 effort that saw SMU score all 11 runs, including four in the top of the eighth, with two outs — can be pretty enjoyable.
"It was one of the most amazing and enjoyable days I've ever had on a baseball field," said Whaley. "It was just an unbelievable day — the guys never gave up once, they just kept battling.
"To score 11 runs with two outs, that just shows the determination of this team — we just battled the whole day.
"It was great."
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, when they needed a clutch hit in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Augsburg last Saturday — their bats were silent.
And that made for a not-so-great afternoon for the Cardinals.
Augsburg scored three runs in its first at-bat and plated five more in their last at-bat in hammering SMU 10-0 in the opening game of their twinbill. The Auggies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the nightcap, then hung on for dear life as SMU scored twice in the fifth, only to come up one run short in falling 3-2.
"It was a tough day to play — cold, windy — and we couldn't seem to get the clutch hits when we needed them," said Whaley. "(Augsburg) got very good pitching in both games, and we hit some shots right at people, while (Augsburg) hit some that just seemed to find the holes."
The Auggies tagged SMU starter Jesse Pedersen (St. Charles, Minn.) for nine runs (six earned) on nine hits in five innings. Augsburg also took full advantage of five Pedersen walks.
SMU, meanwhile, managed just four hits — all singles and all in different innings — and didn't get a runner past second base.
The Auggies scored single runs in the second, third and fourth innings off SMU starter David Reiter (Elgin, Minn.) to take a 3-0 lead into the fifth inning of Game 2 — where the Cardinals attempted to put together yet another late-game rally.
Nick Winecke (St. Paul, Minn.) led off with a double and moved to third when Ryan Majerus (St. Charles, Minn.) reached on an Augsburg error. Majerus then stole second and Matt Rink (Rochester, Minn.) walked to load the bases for Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.), who promptly laced a double to center to score Winecke and Majerus.
And, with runners on second and third with no one out, it looked like SMU was ready to blow the game wide open. After all, in situations like that on Thursday, the Cardinals delivered — again, and again.
That, however, was then, this was now.
The Auggies got back-to-back strikeouts and a ground out to end the threat — and the Cardinals' hopes of a split.
"As good as we were at getting the clutch hits last Thursday (against St. John's), we just couldn't get that clutch hit with guys in scoring position (vs. Augsburg)," continued Whaley. "It was just one of those days where we couldn't seem to catch a break."