By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
AUBURNDALE, Fla. — Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) was a one-man wrecking crew for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team Thursday morning.
 
The Cardinals sophomore enjoyed his best offensive day as a Cardinal, finishing with a career-high four hits— one more than the Rose-Hulman was able to muster as a team—in leading the Cardinals to an 8-4 victory in the teams' nine-inning nonconference game.
 
Both Rose-Hulman and Saint Mary's did not waste any time getting their offenses on track, each scoring a solo run in the first inning—the Cardinals' coming when Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.) opened the Saint Mary's half of the inning with a walk, moved to third on a Piechowski single and scored on a wild pitch.
 
Saint Mary's grabbed the upper hand in the bottom of the third, scoring three runs on just two hits. Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) opened the inning with a single, with Seegers and Piechowski following a walk and an infield single, respectively, to load the bases. Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Costello, with Seegers and Piechowski each scoring on consecutive RBI ground balls by Zach Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) and Connor Cornell (Plymouth, Minn.) to give the Cardinals a 4-1 advantage.
 
Rose-Hulman cut the lead to one, 4-3, with solo runs in the fourth and fifth, but the Cardinals' second three-run inning of the day in the bottom of the sixth—highlighted by a two-run single by Piechowski and a run-scoring base hit by Weinberg—gave Saint Mary's a four-run, 7-3 cushion.
 
After the Fightin' Engineers tallied a solo run in the top of the eight to make it 7-4, Piechowski added to his career afternoon in the bottom of the inning, lacing his first collegiate triple to drive in Seegers—giving him a career-best three RBIs—and icing the Cardinal victory.
 
Piechowski—who finished 4-for-5 to pace Saint Mary's nine-hit attack—wasn't the only Cardinal enjoying a career day, either.
 
Seegers walked four times and scored four times—both collegiate bests—while Weinberg matched Piechowski with a career-high three RBIs.
 
Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) picked up the pitching win, allowing three runs on four hits, while striking out six in six innings of work. Tyler Stilp (Lindstrom, Minn.) allowed one run on one hit with four strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings of relief, and Kodey Kiel (Medford, Minn.) got the game's final two outs, one via strikeout.
 
The Cardinals (3-3 overall) are back in action on Friday, squaring off against Augustana in a 9 a.m. (EST) nine-inning nonconference game in Auburndale, Fla.