MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — If Nick Whaley learned anything from his team's season-opening doubleheader against Valley City State, it's that the Saint Mary's University baseball team is a bunch of night owls.

Despite their late-night starting time — 9:45 p.m., to be exact — the Cardinals kicked off their season with a pair of wins Thursday/Friday, beating Valley City State 3-2 and 9-4.

"It was a great start for us," said SMU coach Nick Whaley. "The first game was very impressive — we were crisp and sharp and played very well. The second game was a little more ragged, but we battled through it."

Jesse Pedersen and David Reiter combined on a three-hitter in the opener. Pedersen when the first five innings, allowing two runs on three hits with six strikeouts, with Reiter coming on in the fifth to pitch two innings of scoreless ball to pick up the win.

Matt Rink opened the scoring in the top of the first with a first-pitch, two-run home run to left. SMU then won it in the seventh when Jose Rueda led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Danny Fiorentino and scored on a single by Kevin Black.

Matt Popek earned the pitching win in Game 2, going five innings and allowing two earned runs on six hits. Nick Winecke led SMU's 11-hit offensive attack, going 3-for-4 with two triples and an RBI. Rink and Brady Knudsen both 2-for-3, with Knudsen driving in a pair of runs.

"It's always nice to get off to a strong start like that," said Whaley. "I thought we did a very nice job considering it was our first time out. The pitchers did a nice job and offensively we got some big hits in clutch situations — which was nice to see."

Even if it was through bloodshot eyes.