WINONA, Minn. — It may not have been no-hitter No. 3—but it was very close.
 
In his first pitching appearance since tossing his second no-hitter of the season, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota's R.J. Brown (Broadview, Ill.) proved to be his usual, dominating self—limiting Hamline to just four hits over 7 1/3 innings in the teams' opening game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at Max Molock Field.
 
And while Brown was doing his thing on the mound, the Cardinal offense took the better-late-than-never approach—scoring solo runs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth, including a walk-off, one-out single by Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.) to lift Saint Mary's to a 2-1 victory.
 
The second game proved to be a game of career firsts for the Cardinals, as Chris Bartosz (Woodridge, Ill.) belted his first collegiate home run and Connor Christenson (Lakeville, Minn.) added his first RBI in a Cardinal uniform in leading Saint Mary's to a sweep-clinching 4-2 victory.
 
Hamline broke a scoreless pitcher's duel in the fifth inning of the opener, as Jacob Picht launched a two-out home run to left to give the Pipers a 1-0 lead. It was the first hit allowed by Brown since surrendering a pair of singles in the top of the first inning.
 
After being limited to just two hits—second-inning singles by Zach Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Minn.) and Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.)—off Hamline starter Zach Smith through the first six innings, the Cardinals doubled that hit output, and plated their first run, in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) led off the Cardinal seventh with a single, was sacrificed to second, and after Smith got Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) to strike out looking, Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) rocketed a single to left, and Kinne beat the throw home to knot the game at 1-1.
 
After getting the first out in the top of the eighth, Brown gave way to reliever Ezekiel Chamblee (Zumbrota, Minn.), who induced the Pipers into a pop out and groundout, both to Seegers at short, to keep the game deadlocked—and set up Seegers' walk-off heroics.
 
The Cardinals recorded a leadoff hit for the second straight inning on a Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) single to left to open the eighth. Christenson laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, and, after Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) was intentionally walked, Seegers laced a single to left to score Costello.
 
Seegers, Kinne, Slowiak, Barry, and Weinberg accounted for the Cardinals' five hits. Brown, meanwhile, equaled his career high with eight strikeouts in the no-decision, while Chamblee collected his first collegiate win with his 2/3 innings of no-run, no-hit relief.
 
The Pipers did not waste any time getting on the board in the second game— and neither did the Cardinals.
 
Hamline scored a solo run in the top of the first inning, but the Cardinals had an answer, as Chris Bartosz (Woodridge, Ill.) belted his first collegiate home run—a two-out, two-run shot—to give Saint Mary's a 2-1 lead after one inning.
 
Christenson, who collected his first two collegiate hits in last Saturday's second game against Concordia, delivered career hit No. 3—and career RBI No. 1—with a run-scoring single in the second to push the Cardinals' lead to 3-1.
 
Saint Mary's tacked on another run in the fourth, as Barry drove in Kinne—who had opened the inning with a single and stole second.
 
Hamline threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with nobody out. The Pipers got a sacrifice fly from Joe Setrum to trim the Cardinal lead to 4-2—and thanks to the second hit batsman of the inning, reloaded the bases with one out. Chamblee, on in relief for a second straight game, induced a fly out to shallow left field and a ground out to second to ice the win.
 
Christenson finished with two hits in three at-bats to fuel Saint Mary's eight-hit attack in the nightcap—his second two-hit game in three career starts—while Buerkle, Bartosz, Barry, Weinberg, Costello, and Bailey Melz (Excelsior, Minn.) all chipped in one hit.
 
John Heim (Lewiston, Minn.) earned the pitching win with 1 1/3 innings of perfect relief of starter Eli Morrison (Minneapolis, Minn.), who went the first 3 2/3, allowing one run on three hits. Bartosz, the Cardinals' third pitcher of the game, allowed one run on one hit in one inning, with Chamblee closing the door in the seventh for his team-leading third save of the season.
 
The Cardinals (19-18 overall, 9-9 MIAC) close out the regular season on Sunday, traveling to Arden Hills, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader against Bethel.