Last Action

The Cardinals’ 2006 season came to a close in Moorhead, Minn., where the Cobbers swept the Cardinals, posting wins of 8-7 and 5-2. … Wartburg, meanwhile, is coming off a season in which the Knights earned a share of their 10th stragiht Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title. The Knights’ season came to an end with an 8-6 loss to Simpson in the IIAC Tournament on May 12, 2006.

Last Meeting

Squaring off against Wartburg, the third-ranked team in the nation, the Cardinals — fueled by a four-run seventh inning — picked up a 5-2 victory in the second game of the nonconference doubleheader on March 25, 2006. SMU was within three outs of a Game 1 victory, but gave up single runs in the eighth and ninth innings in falling 5-4.

Cardinal Notes

Brady Knudsen Seven multiple RBI games in 2006 The Cardinals' Dan Cosgrove (South St. Paul, Minn.) was the team’s offensive leader in virtually every offensive category a year ago, including batting average (.355), hits (38), doubles (8), triples (2), home runs (2), RBIs (22), total bases (56), slugging % (.523), walks (14), on-base percentage (.439) and fielding percentage (.981). … Cosgrove was the Cardinals’ lone representative on the 2006 All-MIAC team, while temamate Kevin Black (Mahtomedi, Minn.) was an academic All-MIAC selection. … Brady Knudsen (Racine, Wis.), who finished second to Cosgrove with 21 RBIs, led the team with seven multiple-RBI games, while Robbie Johnson's (Lake Elmo, Minn.) seven-game hitting streak was a team high. … SMU closed out its season on a season-high nine-game losing streak. During that span, the Cardinals were outscored 91-36. … The Cardinals were outscored in every inning but the seventh and eighth, including 32-8 in the second inning and 50-21 in the fifth. … SMU outscored its opponents 25-14 in the seventh inning, but were still 2-27 when trailing after six innings. … The Cardinals finished 0-6 in one-run games and just 1-15 when scoring two or less runs.

Knight Notes

Wartburg was picked to win its 11th straight IIAC title by the conference coaches. The Knights received two first-place votes and 65 total points in the baseball poll, eclipsing second-place Central and Coe by four points. … The Knights return five position players who appeared in 20-or-more games and three pitchers who threw in 10-or-more games last season. Senior infielder Ryan Grant, a 2006 all-Iowa Conference honoree at third base, tops the position player returners after he hit .337 with 35 RBIs and 10 extra base hits. … On the hill, junior left-hander Zach Mundy and junior Aaron Sauegling of Dubuque each appeared in 14 games in 2006. Mundy ended 2-0 with a 3.65 earned run average and two saves, while Sauegling finished 4-4 in two starts and registered 24 strikeouts. …