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Cardinal Roster
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Cardinal Schedule
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MIAC Standings
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MIAC Statistics
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| 2007 Records: 0-2 MIAC, 4-9 Overall |
| Recent Results: Saint John's 5, Saint Mary's 3 / Details Saint John's 7, Saint Mary's 4 / Details |
| Upcoming Games: Mon., April 9: SMU at St. Olaf, 1:00 Tues., April 10: SMU at Augsburg, 2:30 Sat., April 14: St. Thomas at SMU, 1:00 Sun., April 15: SMU at Carleton, 1:00 |
| Cardinal News and Notes: With Monday's back-to-back losses to Saint John's, the Cardinals have now lost six of their last seven games. … SMU's 5-2 win over UW-La Crosse last Wednesday snapped SMU's season-high four-game losing streak. … After equalling a season-high with 11 hits in their win vs. UW-La Crosse, SMU managed just 12 hits — combined — in its two losses to SJU. … SMU has now been held to four runs or less in seven of their nine losses. … Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.) and Kyle Ryan (St. Paul, Minn.) were both held without a hit in Game 1 vs. the Johnnies, snapping their season-high six-game hitting streaks. It was just the second time in SMU's 13 games that Knudsen has not had at least one hit. … With a single in Game 1 and a walk in Game 2, Nick Winecke (St. Paul, Minn.) has now reached base safely in 12 of SMU's 13 games. … Brandon Haugh (Easton, Minn.) belted his first career home run — the Cardinals' first of the season — vs. UW-La Crosse. … Knudsen, who has hit six of SMU's 17 doubles this season, leads the team in RBIs (8) and hits (15). … Alex Schmidt (La Crosse, Minn.) boast a team-best .412 batting average. … SMU boasts four players — Knudsen (15), Winecke (14), Robbie Johnson (Lake Elmo, Minn. / 10) and Kevin Black (Mahtomedi, Minn. / 10) — with 10 or more hits. … Black also leads the team in runs (7), while Johnson is the team-leading in walks (9). … The bottom three batters in SMU's lineup — Haugh, Schmidt and Ryan — went 5-for-10 with all five RBIs vs. UW-L last Wednesday. … Matt Popek (Eagan, Minn.) picked up his first win of the season vs. UW-L, allowing two earned runs and four hits in seven innings. …The Cardinals scored their first second-inning run of the season vs. SJU — but have still been outscored 14-1 in the second inning. … The Cardinals are winless (0-7) when either team scores in the first inning. |
SMU drops 2 to SJU, has 2 other series postponed
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Nick
Winecke Has reached base safely in 12 of SMU's 13 games |
The Cardinals managed just 10 hits in dropping back-to-back decisions to Northwestern on March 27, then turned around and banged out 11 hits — in just seven innings — in a 5-2 win over UW-La Crosse the following day.
Last Monday afternoon, SMU's bats returned to their early spring hibernation, as the Cardinals mustered just 12 hits — and seven runs — in their two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games against Saint John's.
And against a team like SJU, 12 hits and seven runs isn't nearly enough, as the Johnnies swept the Cardinals, 5-3 and 7-4.
"We just weren't able to come up with any timely hits," said SMU coach Nick Whaley. "We got pretty solid starting pitching and we played OK in the field — it just came down to not doing a very good job at the plate."
The Cardinals got out of the gate quickly in the opener, scoring twice in the first inning — on a two-run single by Robbie Johnson (Lake Elmo, Minn.) — then added an unearned run in the second to take a 3-0 advantage.
That, however, would be the last time SMU would plate a run until the third inning of Game 2.
SJU, meanwhile, would score twice in the third, twice in the fourth and once in the fifth to rally past the Cardinals in the opener, then scored a single run in the first and two in the second and led 3-1 after three innings of Game 2. The Johnnies padded that lead to 7-1, before the Cardinals' bats returned to life with three runs in the top of the seventh.
That late rally, however, was too little, too late as SMU fell to 0-2 in the MIAC and 4-9 overall.
"If we are going to be successful, we have to play at a high level in all three facets of the game," said Whaley. "Today, we were good in two of the three — pitching and fielding — but we weren't very good in the third."
But with conference doubleheaders against Carleton and St. Olaf still to be played last week, Whaley figured his team would get plenty of swings the remainder of the week.
Enter Mother Nature — and an early April cold freeze.
With temperatures hovering in the low 30s, and wind chills – yes, wind chills — dropping the temperature another 10 degrees, SMU's games vs. the Knights and Oles were put on hold.
"It's frustrating, because the guys want to play — they need to play," said Whaley, whose team will play four conference doubleheaders — weather permitting — this week. "It's hard to get into any type of rhythm. We play two games outside, then spend the rest of the week indoors. It's tough, but that's spring time in Minnesota."