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Cardinal Roster
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Cardinal Statistics
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Cardinal Schedule
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MIAC Standings
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MIAC Statistics
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| 2006 Records: 0-0 MIAC, 1-6 Overall |
| Last Week's Results: Coe 8, Saint Mary's 2 / Details Coe 5, Saint Mary's 0 / Details |
| Upcoming Events: Sat., March 25: SMU at Wartburg, 1 p.m. Sun., March 26: SMU at Cornell, 1 p.m. |
| Cardinal News and Notes: The Cardinals have scored two or less runs in four of their seven games. … Kevin Black (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Robbie Johnson (Lake Elmo, Minn.) combined for four of SMU's six hits vs. Coe. … All six of SMU's hits vs. the Kohawks were singles. … Dan Cosgrove (South St. Paul, Minn.) went 0-for-2 in Game 1 vs. Coe, snapping his season-high four-game hitting streak. … The Cardinals are 1-4 when their opponent scores first and 0-2 when they score first. … SMU has been outscored in every inning but the seventh, when the Cardinals hold a 4-0 scoring advantage. … The Cardinals are winless on the road (0-5), with their lone win coming against Dickinson State at neutral-sited Metrodome. … Johnson (.333) and Black (.308) are the team's batting leaders, while Black and Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.) lead the team with five RBIs. |
but offense stays in winter hibernation in two losses
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Who's Hot?
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Robbie
Johnson 2-for-7 vs. Coe |
Just being able to get back outside and play a game put a smile on the Cardinal head coach's face.
That was about the only thing Whaley had to smile about, however.
Coe proved to be a rather ungracious host Sunday afternoon, as the Kohawks erupted for six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to beat the Cardinals 8-2 in the first game, then held SMU to just two hits en route to a sweep-clinching 5-0 Game 2 victory.
"We did not play well," said Whaley, whose team saw its record dip to 1-6 with the two losses. "We're still trying to figure some things out – who to play, where to play them.
"Losing those four games in St. Louis (to rain) really set us back a bit," continued Whaley. "With a young team like we've got, we need as many games as we can get early in the season. We need to see how all the pieces are going to fit in place."
The Cardinals and Kohawks traded first-inning runs in Game 1, with SMU getting its run on a one-out sacrifice fly by Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.) that plated Kevin Black (Mahtomedi, Minn.), who had one of the Cardinals' two first-inning hits.
From there, however, SMU's offense went into an early hibernation, as the Cardinals managed just six hits over the next 13 innings — including three in the top of the seventh, when they put the first two runners on, but could only manage a two-out, RBI single by Black.
Coe, meanwhile, had its offense in high gear, as the Kohawks erupted for six fifth-inning runs — while tagging three SMU pitchers for eight runs on 12 hits combined — to put Game 1 out of reach.
And it was more of the same in the nightcap, as Coe parlayed its six hits into five runs — two in the third and three more in the fourth — while holding SMU to a first-inning single by Robbie Johnson (Lake Elmo, Minn.) and a two-out single by Brandon Verbout (Rochester, Minn.) in the fifth.
"I thought both of our starting pitchers pitched well enough to win, but offensively and defensively, we weren't very good," said Whaley, noting that Matt Popek (Eagan, Minn.) gave up three earned runs in 4 1/3 innings in losing the opener, while Mike Mitchell (Mound, Minn.) surrendered three earned runs in 3 2/3 innings in Game 2. "Offensively, we have to do a better job of battling — in the second game (against Coe), 15 of our 21 outs were either pop-ups, strikeouts or groundouts to the pitcher. That won't cut it.
"And, defensively, we didn't make (Coe) earn their runs. Of their 13 runs, we made them earn five of them," continued Whaley. "Some of that is youth, and some of that is just early season jitters. But that's what this part of the season is all about — it's a time to work out the kinks as you head into the (conference) schedule."