WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball coach
Nick Winecke would have been hard-pressed to find a more impressive way for the Cardinals to kick off their 2015 season.
Saint Mary's, playing the first of 10 games during its week-long stay in Florida, banged out 14 hits—and scored 11 runs—in rolling to an 11-0 Game 1 win over Milwaukee School of Engineering at Lake Myrtle Park.
And it was more of the same in the nightcap, as the Cardinals plated another nine runs in completing the sweep with a 9-2 victory over the Raiders.
The Cardinals scored three runs in their first at-bat—and three more in their final at-bat—in cruising to the Game 1 victory.
Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.),
David Barry (Apple Valley, Minn.),
Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.), and
Drew Denning (St. Paul, Minn.) all collected two hits for the Cardinals in Game 1, with Barry, Buerkle and Denning each driving in two runs. Six of Saint Mary's 14 hits vs. the Raiders in Game 1 were for extra-bases—including a Buerkle triple and home runs by Denning and
Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.).
Ben Johnson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) earned in the pitching win in Game 1, allowing three hits—all singles—in four innings of work, while
Chris Bartosz (Woodridge, Ill.) and
Austin Jacobs (Cannon Falls, Minn.) combined to toss three innings of scoreless, no-hit relief to preserve the shutout.
The Cardinals used a five-run third inning to break a scoreless game in the nightcap, before adding two more runs in both the fourth and sixth innings.
MSOE finally broke the ice in the seventh, scoring twice off Cardinal reliever
Brian Powers.
Barry put together his second two-hit game of the afternoon, while also scoring three times.
Kevin Miley (St. Paul, Minn.) went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, while
Tyler Lursen (Maple Grove, Minn.) had two hits and drove in a pair of runs, and
Cale Pieczynski (Plover, Wis.) posted two hits and two runs scored.
Jacob Dawson (Oakdale, Minn.) picked up the pitching win, scattering three hits in five innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out one.
The Cardinals (2-0 overall) are back in action on Monday, squaring off against MIAC rival Concordia in a pair of nonconference games.
