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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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| 2007 Records: 0-0 MIAC, 0-2 Overall |
| Cardinal News and Notes: The Cardinals' Nick Winecke (St. Paul, Minn.) and Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.) accounted for six of SMU's 11 hits vs. Wartburg last Wednesday. Winecke was 3-for-5 (.600) with an RBI, while Knudsen was 3-for-6 (.500) with a double. … Winecke has now hit safely in five straight games (both game this year, and the last three last year). … Mike Mitchell (Mound, Minn.) was the tough-luck loser in Game 2 vs. the Knights, giving up two earned runs in 4.1 innings. … SMU managed just two extra-base hits vs. Wartburg — both doubles — while the Knights belted five doubles, a triple and a home run vs. Cardinal pitching. … Wartburg's 16 runs scored were the most allowed by SMU since Bethel plated 18 in an 18-4 Game 1 win on April 25, 2006. … Wartburg's 10, fourth-inning runs were the most allowed in a single inning by SMU since Winona State erupted for 12 runs in the third inning of a 23-3 WSU win on March 31, 2004. … With the doubleheader loss to Wartburg, the Cardinals have now lost their last five doubleheaders, dating back to a 2-0, Game 1 win over Macalester on April 19, 2006.. … The Knights scored all 16 of their Game 1 runs in two innings – six in the second and 10 in the fourth. |
rides big 2nd and 4th innings to victory, DH sweep
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Nick
Winecke 3-for-5, RBI vs. Wartburg |
In the first, third and fifth innings, Cardinal pitchers were virtually untouchable, holding Wartburg scoreless on just one hit.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, there was nothing wrong with the Knights' bats in the even innings, as Wartburg scored six runs in the second inning and 10 more in the fourth, en route to a 16-1 victory over SMU in the first game of their nonconference doubleheader at the HHH Metrodome last Wednesday.
There was no even-numbered onslaught for the Knights in Game 2 – in fact, there were few Wartburg runs at all.
After their 16-run Game 1 outburst, the Knights managed just three runs off three Cardinal pitchers in Game 2 — and three runs was more than enough.
Wartburg scored single runs in the first, fifth and sixth innings — and held the Cardinals to a lone run in the fourth — as the Knights completed the sweep with a 3-1 victory.
"We played much better in the second game, that's for sure," said SMU coach Nick Whaley. "I don't know what it was (in the opener), we just couldn't seem to do anything right — we didn't pitch all that well, we couldn't string any hits together, and we struggled a bit in the field.
"It was good to see us regroup and play more the way I expect us to play in the second game."
After watching the Knights parlay five doubles and a triple — including a pair of bases-loaded two-baggers — into 16 runs to take a 16-0 lead in Game 1, the Cardinals finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, as Robbie Johnson (Lake Elmo, Minn.) singled, Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.) doubled and Nick Winecke (St. Paul, Minn.) drove in Johnson with a sacrifice fly to left.
SMU threatened again in the sixth, loading the bases with nobody out, but Wartburg relief pitcher Billy Schmitt struck out the next three batters he faced to end the inning.
SMU pitcher Mike Mitchell (Mound, Minn.) cooled off the Knights' bats in the nightcap, holding Wartburg to four hits — and two earned runs — in 4.1 innings. SMU tied the game in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by David Krieger (Mendota Heights, Minn.), but Wartburg took the lead again with a run in the fifth, then iced it with another run in the sixth.
"This was a good learning experience — obviously we have some things we need to work on," said Whaley, whose team returns to the Dome March 8, when they take on Dickinson State in a nonconference doubleheader. "I think everyone was a little uptight (in the first game) — that's to be expected with the first game of the year.
"But, uptight, nervous, or whatever, we have got to play better than we did in that first game."