THE MATCHUP

Saint Mary's vs. Macalester vs. Wednesday, April 13, 2005 Max Molock Field 2:30 p.m.

GAMEDAY PLAYER PROFILE

Matt Rink Year Senior Position Outfield Hometown Rochester, Minn.

For the official GameDay Program for today's game pdf / click here (pdf)

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team has lived by the late-inning rally all season.

Saturday afternoon against Carleton, the Cardinals lived — and died — by one.

Carleton got a bases-clearing double by Luke Muellerleile in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Knights to a 6-5 victory over SMU in the first game of the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader.

And in the second game, SMU figured one good, late-inning rally deserved another, as the Cardinals scored three times in the top of the seventh to tie the game, then scored the game-winning run on the last of Carleton's 10 errors on the day in the eighth to win 5-4 and earn a split.

"It was a tough, tough day to play," said SMU coach Nick Whaley. "With the wind blowing as hard as it was, it really took away a lot of our (offensive) power. I wouldn't say it was one of our best performances of the year, but to bounce back the way we did — after a gut-wrenching loss like that in the first game — was great to see."

After scoring twice in the top of the fifth in Game 1 — fueled by an RBI double from Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.) to break a 3-3 tie, the Cardinals had what seemed like a sure victory snatched from their grasp as the Knights loaded the bases with two outs, setting up Muellerleile's game-ending heroics.

The Cardinals were staring at a 4-1 deficit with one at-bat remaining in the nightcap, but SMU made the most of those final three outs, getting a two-run double from Ryan Majerus (St. Charles, Minn.) and then scoring the game-tying run on a Carleton error to send the game into extra innings.

In the eighth, Nick Winecke (St. Paul, Minn.) singled to deep short, but was forced out a second on a grounder by Majerus. Matt Rink (Rochester, Minn.), who went 3-for-5 in the second game, singled to center, moving Majerus to second, and the senior scored when Carleton third baseman Nicholas Shepard threw away a ground ball by Knudsen.

"That first game was a tough one to lose," said Whaley, whose team had its three-game winning streak — including back-to-back victories over Gustavus to open MIAC play last Thursday — snapped with the Game 1 loss. "And I think the way that game ended affected us a bit at the start of the second game. But we never let the game get away from us and we just kept battling."

It was that type of battling that helped propel SMU to its 9-3, 6-4 sweep of the Gusties earlier in the week.

"(Gustavus) took it to us a year ago, and this year we turned the tables a bit on them," said Whaley, referring to last season's 15-5, 17-9 GAC sweep. "But what impressed me about (the Gustauvs) games was that we didn't go into it with the idea of gaining any type of revenge — we just went out their and played baseball.

"In this conference, it's next to impossible to sweep," continued Whaley, whose team is back in MIAC action today, playing host to Macalester. "It was nice to take two from Gustavus and it was good to come away with a split (vs. Carleton) — but I'm not sure I can handle too many more of those late-game heroics."