By
Donny Nadeau
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
MAUSTON, Wis. — After three doubleheader postponements—and a site change—the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team finally got its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season underway Tuesday afternoon.
And what a crazy conference-opener it proved to be.
After surrendering 10 runs in dropping Game 1 against the Tommies 10-3, the Cardinals rode the right arm of
Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) to the Game 2 win, as the sophomore tossed his first collegiate complete-game shutout in leading Saint Mary's to the 1-0, nine-inning victory.
The Tommies did not waste any time getting to Cardinal starter
James Green (East Bethel, Minn.) in the opener, scoring three times in the first—all three scoring on a Hunter Hart home run—and adding four more runs in the second to grab a quick, 7-2 lead.
Saint Mary's answered the Tommies' three-run first with a pair of runs in its first at-bat—getting an RBI groundout from
Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) and a sacrifice fly off the bat of
Zach Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Wis.)—before cutting the deficit to 7-3 on a
Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) home run in the third.
Green, who had gone seven innings in each of his first three collegiate starts—allowing a combined four runs—settled in after the rough start, blanking the Tommies in the third, fourth, and fifth innings.
The Tommies chased the freshman right-hander in the sixth, however, scoring a pair of runs—both with two outs—to pad their lead to 9-3. UST closed out the scoring with a solo run off Saint Mary's reliever
Tyler Stilp (Lindstrom, Minn.).
Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.) led the way for the Cardinal offense in Game 1, going 2-for-4 with a run scored, while Barry, Slowiak, and
Dirk Drohner (Plover, Wis.) accounted for Saint Mary's other three hits.
The Cardinals managed just a solo first-inning run in the nightcap—but with Wolfe on the mound, one run proved to be more than enough.
Weinberg had the big first-inning hit for Saint Mary's, delivering a one-out double to score
Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.), who had reached on a walk.
And Wolfe made that run stand up—limiting the Tommies to just four hits, while walking one and striking out a career-high eight. Wolfe worked out of UST's biggest threat of the nightcap—a bases-loaded jam in the fifth—by getting Jake Smith to strike out looking to maintain the 1-0 advantage.
Weinberg led the Cardinals' five-hit Game 2 offensive attack, going 2-for-4, with Seegers, Drohner, and
Connor Cornell (Plymouth, Minn.) each chipping in one hit.
he Cardinals (1-1 MIAC, 7-10 overall) are back in action this weekend, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 1 p.m. MIAC doubleheader against Macalester on Saturday, before returning home to Max Molock Field to host Saint John's in a 1 p.m. twinbill the following afternoon
