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NORTHFIELD, Minn. — As Yogi Berra once said, "Talk about deja vu all over again."

Less than three hours after losing a heartbreaking 2-1 decision to St. Olaf on a two-out double in the bottom of the ninth inning of Friday's MIAC baseball tournament, Saint Mary's heart was broke again as Gustavus' Tom Ramy launched a one-out, three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to break a 0-0 tie and give the Gusties' a 3-0 victory.

"We got to this tournament by winning the one-run games," said SMU coach Nick Whaley, whose team won its final six conference games — four by one run — to earn a berth in the four-team double-elimination tournament. "And we were essentially eliminated by two one-run games."

The Gusties managed just five hits — no more than one in any inning – off SMU starter Cory Kanz (Oronoco, Minn.). Unfortunately, as dominating as Kanz was, striking out six and walking three, including one intentionally in the ninth, one swing of the bat was all it took to burst the Cardinals' tournament bubble.

After eight-and-a-half scoreless innings, Gustavus' Brad Mazer led off the bottom of the ninth with a single and was sacrificed to second by Joe Thorvig. Kanz walked Larsen intentionally to set up the possible double play, but Ramy wasn't biting, belting Kanz's second offering over the fence in dead center.

"Losing in the bottom of the ninth is tough once," admitted Whaley, whose team closed out its season with a 15-17 record. "But to have it happen twice in the same day, that's pretty hard to take."

Kanz and Game 1 starter Eric Williamson (St. Charles, Minn.) certainly won't argue with that. Despite their efforts — Kanz' five-hitter and Williamson's nine-hit, 0 earned-run effort vs. the Oles — the Cardinals' tournament stay was short-lived for the second straight year.

"Our pitching was great," understated Whaley. "Those two guys put this team on their backs and carried them for nine innings. All season long I've said the No. 1 goal of our pitchers is to give us a chance to win — and Cory and Eric certainly did that."

Unfortunately, the Cardinals' offense wasn't nearly as impressive.

The Cardinals, who managed just one run in 18 innings — an RBI single by Rob Kimlinger (Lake Elmo, Minn.) against St. Olaf — had at least one runner on base in six of the nine innings against Gustavus, but only once got that runner as far as third base.

"These guys have nothing to hang their heads about," Whaley said. "Would we like to get to replay those ninth innings again? You bet, but that's the game of baseball — sometimes the breaks go your way, and sometimes, they don't."

This time, they didn't.