LA CROSSE, Wis. — For the second time in as many days, it was the big inning that proved to be the Achilles' heel for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team.
 
Less than 24 hours after giving up a pair of three-run innings in a 10-4 loss to St. Scholastica, Saint Mary's surrendered four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, as UW-La Crosse rallied to deal the Cardinals a 4-3 setback in the opening game of the teams' nonconference doubleheader at Copeland Park.
 
The Cardinals did not allow any three- or four-run innings in the nightcap—unfortunately, there were a lot of one- and two-run innings.
 
UW-La Crosse scored at least one run in each of its first four at-bats—and limited the Cardinals to one run in the first and two in the sixth—as the Eagles completed the sweep with a 7-3 victory.
 
The Cardinals scored single runs in the fourth and seventh innings—without the benefit of a base hit in the opener. Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) gave Saint Mary's a 1-0 lead with an RBI groundout in the fourth, and Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) made it 2-0 with an run-scoring groundout in the seventh.
 
And with R.J. Brown (Broadview, Ill.) on the mound, two runs appeared to be more than enough.
 
Brown no-hit the Eagles over the first four innings, before surrendering a leadoff single to open the fifth—snapping the junior right-hander's consecutive hitless innings streak at 14.
 
Brown exited after throwing a hitless sixth—allowing just one hit, while walking two and striking out striking out five. Reliever Austin Jacobs (Cannon Falls, Minn.) did his best Brown impersonation in the seventh—mowing the Eagles down in order—only to have UW-La Crosse tag him for four runs on four hits in the eighth to turn Saint Mary's 2-0 advantage into a 4-2 deficit.
 
Saint Mary's got one run back in the top of the ninth on a Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.) RBI single, but that was as close as the Cardinals would get.
 
Seegers went 3-for-5 with an RBI to pace the Cardinals' 10-hit attack, while Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) and Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) each chipped in two hits.
 
Seegers picked up where he left off in the second game, singling in his first at-bat in the top of the first, and scoring on Kinne's one-out RBI single to right.
 
From there, however, the Cardinals' bats went silent—and the Eagles' remained red-hot.
 
Riding the momentum of their four-run eighth in Game 1, the Eagles scored once in the first, twice in both the second and third, and once more in the fourth to grab a 6-1 advantage.
 
With one swing of the bat, the Cardinals clawed to within three, 6-3, as Buerkle launched a one-out, two-run home run to right-center in the sixth. The Eagles, however, had an answer, scoring a solo run in the bottom of the seventh to make the final 7-3.
 
Seegers, Buerkle, and Kinne all recorded two hits in the Game 2 setback, with Buerkle adding two RBIs, while Kinne drove in the Cardinals' other run.
 
Saint Mary's (9-8 overall) are now off until Sunday, when they will entertain UW-Oshkosh in a nonconference doubleheader. First pitch at Max Molock Field is set for 1 p.m.