WINONA, Minn. — A year ago, in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season finale, Bethel picked up a pair of wins—eliminating the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball's team's bid for a fourth straight appearance in the conference's post-season tournament.
 
Thanks to Saint Mary's playoff-clinching sweep of Concordia last Wednesday, there would be no repeat of a year ago when the Cardinals and Royals once again squared off in the teams' regular-season finale on Sunday at Max Molock Field.
 
Unfortunately for Saint Mary's, the Royals still managed to find a way to rain on the Cardinals' Senior Day parade.
 
Bethel scored a pair of unearned runs in the sixth and seventh innings, handing Saint Mary's a 4-2 Game 1 setback—and officially eliminating any chance the Cardinals had of clinching a share of the conference's regular-season title.
 
The Cardinals rebounded quite nicely from the Game 1 loss, however, getting a combined seven hits and seven RBIs from Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) and Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) in crushing the Royals 14-6 in the nightcap.
 
With the split, the Cardinals finished tied for second with Saint John's and Hamline in the regular-season standings. Because of the tie-breakers, however, Saint Mary's will be the No. 4 seed in the upcoming conference tournament—and will face regular-season champion St. Thomas Thursday at 7 p.m. at Saint John's in Collegeville, Minn.
 
Bethel got out front with a pair of runs in the second inning of the opener, as Esteban Velasco delivered a two-out double, scoring both Austin Ledin and Jake Shubert.
 
After getting a runner to second in both the first and second innings, the Cardinals pulled even in the third, getting a run-scoring double from Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.) and an RBI single by Buerkle
 
That would be the last time the Cardinals would get a runner across the plate off Bethel pitcher Tyler Heitmann.
 
The Royals, meanwhile added unearned runs in both the sixth and seventh to seal the win.
 
Kinne went 2-for-3 to pace the Cardinals' six-hit offensive attack, while Doll, Buerkle, Cale Pieczynski (Plover, Wis.), and A.J. Redders (Middleton, Wis.) accounted for Saint Mary's other four hits. Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.) suffered the pitching loss, allowing three runs—two earned—on six hits in six innings.
 
The Cardinals scored first in the nightcap, getting a one-out RBI double from Kinne in their first at-bat.
 
The lead did not last long, however, as Bethel answered with a pair of runs in the top of the second—loading the bases with a walk and back-to-back hit batters and getting a two-run single from Logan Lisle—to take a 2-1 advantage.
 
Saint Mary's gave starter Jacob Dawson (Oakdale, Minn.) some breathing room in its half of the second, collecting seven runs on seven hits.
 
Mencacci singled to lead off the inning and Redders followed with an infield single off pitcher Matt Herringshaw's foot to put runners on first and third with nobody out. Jacob Frost (Moline, Ill.) followed with an RBI single to left, scoring Mencacci. Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.) sacrificed Redders and Frost to second and third, and Doll, Pieczynski, and Buerkle all laced run-scoring singles to give the Cardinals back the lead, 5-2—and chasing Herringshaw.
 
But the Cardinals weren't done—far from it.
 
After getting Lursen to pop out to third, BU reliever John Eischens served up a fastball that Kinne belted over the right-field fence for a three-run home run—and an 8-2 Cardinal cushion.
 
That cushion shrunk to four in the top of the third, as back-to-back walks and an error loaded the bases for BU. Dawson then hit Ledin to plate one, and a sacrifice fly by Brandon Meyer added another to make it 8-4.
 
The Cardinals answered Bethel's two-run third with two runs of their own in their half of the inning.
 
Redders and Frost opened the third with singles. Seegers attempted to sacrifice the duo to second and third, but Royal first baseman Brett Neuville could not handle the throw, allowing Redders to score from second and Frost to move to third. Doll lifted a fly ball to left to score Frost, and give Saint Mary's a 10-4 lead.
 
Bethel plated an unearned run in the top of the fourth to make it 10-5, but the Cardinals got that run back in the fifth, getting an RBI single from Buerkle to score Doll–who drew a one-out walk and moved to third on back-to-back wild pitches.
 
The Cardinals continued to feast on Royal pitching in the sixth, scoring two more runs on three hits—including an RBI single from Redders—to push their lead to eight, 13-5.
 
Buerkle then highlighted his 4-for-5 Game 2 effort in the seventh, lacing a lead-off home run that hugged the right-field foul pole, and Bethel answered with a solo run in the top of the eighth to close out the scoring.
 
Along with Buerkle's 4-for-5, three-run, three-RBI performance, Kinne chipped in three hits in five at-bats, driving in four and scoring twice. Redders and Frost each had to hits, while Mencacci added two, as the Cardinals banged out a season-high 19 hits against seven Bethel pitchers en route to scoring their season-high 14 runs.
 
Austin Jacobs (Cannon Falls, Minn.) earned the pitching win, allowing just two hits and one unearned run in 3 2/3 innings of relief.