ST. PETER, Minn. — After managing just eight runs in their last five games—combined—the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team turned up the offensive heat a notch or two in the opening game of its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Gustavus.
 
Saint Mary's erupted for 10 runs—including four in their final at-bat—as the Cardinals put an end to their season-high five-game losing streak with a 10-7 Game 1 win over the Gusties at Gustie Baseball Field.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they could have used a few of those Game 1 runs in the nightcap, as Gustavus held Saint Mary's to just two runs—one in the first and one in the eighth—in earning a split with a 3-2 victory.
 
"It was a tough split for us," said Saint Mary's coach Nick Winecke. "It was great to see us string some hits together in the seventh inning to get the win in the opener, but we couldn't come up with any of those clutch hits in Game 2.
 
"We certainly had our chances in the second game," added Winecke, noting that the Cardinals stranded 13 runners on base in Game 2. "To have 11 hits and manage only two runs—that's not acceptable."
 
Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) proved to be the hero in the opener, going 2-for-4 with five RBIs—three coming on his second home run of the season in the Cardinals' four-run seventh inning.
 
Saint Mary's jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opener, scoring three times in the first—highlighted by a two-run triple by Kinne—and adding another on back-to-back one-out doubles by Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) and Tyler Lursen in the third.
 
With two swings of the bat, the lead quickly vanished, however, as Gustavus belted two third-inning home runs—a three-run bomb by Dan Carlson and a solo shot by John Lundquist to knot the game at 4-4.
 
The Gusties took their first lead of the game with two runs in the fifth, but Saint Mary's answered, scoring a pair of unearned runs in the sixth to make it 6-6.
 
Gustavus regained the lead on a two-out single by Carleton in the bottom of the sixth, but the Cardinals once again had an answer.
 
A big-inning answer.
 
Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.) led off the Cardinal seventh with a single, Buerkle doubled and Lursen notched an infield hit to load the bases. Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) drove in Seegers with a sacrifice fly, and Kinne followed with his three-run blast to seal the come-from-behind win.
 
Kinne was one of four Cardinals with two hits in the opener—Buerkle, Lursen, and Cale Pieczynski (Plover, Wis.) were the others—while the junior also drove in five runs.
 
Ryan Fejt (Westchester, Ill.) picked up the pitching win in relief of starter Ben Johnson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), allowing just one run on three hits in 2 1/3 innings of work. Nathan Mathwig (Woodbury, Minn.) worked a perfect seventh for his team-leading third save.
 
Saint Mary's wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in Game 2, as Buerkle delivered an RBI double, scoring Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.), in the Cardinals' first at-bat.
 
Gustavus answered with a single run of its own in the bottom of the first, then added two more in the fifth to grab a 3-2 lead.
 
The Cardinals tried to put together another late-inning comeback, scoring once in the top of the eighth on a Pieczynski RBI double, but that would be as close as Saint Mary's would get.
 
Pieczynski picked up his second two-hit game of the afternoon in Game 2, while Barry, Doll, and Dixon Irwin (Red Wing, Minn.) also collected a pair of hits in the nightcap. Jacob Dawson (Oakdale, Minn.) took the pitching loss, surrendering three runs on seven hits in five innings of work. Jake Kramlinger (White Bear Lake, Minn.) tossed the final three innings—limiting GAC to just one hit.
 
The Cardinals (1-3 MIAC, 13-9 overall) return home on Saturday, hosting Saint John's in a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader at Max Molock Field.