ST. PAUL, Minn. — After scoring just three runs in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference split against Gustavus a week ago, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota kicked its offense into high gear on Saturday.
 
The Cardinals erupted for 23 runs and 29 hits—including three home runs and 11 extra-base hits—in sweeping past the Scots 7-5 and 16-3.
 
Saint Mary's spotted Macalester a 5-3 lead in the opener after five innings—with the Cardinals' three runs coming on a Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.) lead-off home run and Drew Denning (St. Paul, Minn.) sacrifice fly in the second, and a Macalester throwing error on two-out dropped third strike in the fourth—before plating seven runs in the top of the sixth inning to take the lead for good.
 
Saint Mary's took advantage of two Macalester errors—and a pair of RBI doubles by David Barry (Apple Valley, Minn.) and Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) to score their four sixth-inning runs, and Ryan Fjet (Westchester, Ill.) and Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.) both set the Scots down in order in the sixth and seventh innings to ice the win.
 
The Cardinals finished with seven Game 1 hits—from seven different players—while Barry, Buerkle, Schlemmer and Denning all had RBIs.
 
Saint Mary's picked up right where it left off in Game 2, jumping out to a 4-2 lead after three innings—getting a lead-off home run from Tyler Lursen (Maple Grove, Minn.) as part of a three-run second inning and a sacrifice fly from Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) in the third.
 
But the Cardinals in general—and Jake Barry in particular—were just getting warmed up.
 
Saint Mary's plated two runs in the fifth on Jake Barry's triple and four more in the seventh—highlighted by a run scoring single from Denning, a two-run double by Doll and an RBI single by Buerkle—before putting the game out of reach with a six-run ninth inning.
 
Buerkle delivered two of the Cardinals' six, ninth-inning runs with a double—his second of the day—before Jake Barry blasted a two out grand slam home run to complete the rout.
 
Doll paced the Cardinals' 22-hit offensive attack, going 4-for-6 with three RBIs and a pair of runs scored, while Buerkle was 4-for-4 with three RBIs, Lursen was 3-for-5 and Jake Barry finished 2-for-5 with seven RBIs.
 
The Cardinals (7-3 MIAC, 21-6 overall) return to Max Molock Field on Tuesday, when they entertain Augsburg in a 2:30 p.m. conference doubleheader.