By EMILY LOOF
Saint Mary's Sports Information Intern
 
WINONA, Minn. — Coming into their doubleheader against Augsburg Wednesday afternoon at Max Molock Field, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team had earned back-to-back splits in its last two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference twinbills.
 
And history had a way of repeating itself Wednesday afternoon, as the Cardinals bounced back from a 6-1 loss to the Auggies in Game 1 with a 5-3 victory in the nightcap—fueled by a three-run first inning.
 
The Auggies came out swinging in Game 1, earning back-to-back singles in the top of the first, but Cardinal pitcher Eli Morison (Minneapolis, Minn.) closed out the inning without allowing any runs. The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) scored an unearned run on an Auggie throwing error.
 
Both the Cardinals and the Auggies were kept off the board in the second and third innings, but the Auggies tied the game in their half of the fourth—thanks to a pair of singles and a stolen base.  
 
The Auggies padded their lead to 5-1 with a four-run fifth, and added another run in the seventh to round out the scoring.
 
Saint Mary's opened its half of the seventh with a single by Liam Belleveau (Middleton, Wis.), but he would remain stranded as Auggie pitcher Jamie Kaye set down the next three batters he
 
The Cardinals finished with six hits off Kaye, with the six hits coming from six different players.
 
Saint Mary's gave starter R.J. Brown (Broadview, Ill.) some early run support in Game 2, scoring three times in the bottom of the first inning.
 
The quickly loaded the bases in their first at-bat, getting a single from Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.), a walk by Tepp, and a bunt single by Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.). Jake Barry (Tinley Park, Ill.) followed with a single to score Seegers and Tepp plated the second run on the game on a Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.) grounded out. The Cardinals would add an unearned run on an Augsburg fielding error to make it 3-0.
 
The two teams traded single runs—Augsburg's in the third and Saint Mary's in the fourth—coming on a Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) double, his second of the game.
 
The Auggies whittled the Cardinal lead to one, 4-3, with a pair of fifth-inning runs, only to the Cardinals seal the win when Tepp scored on another Auggie fielding error.
 
Tyler Stilp (Lindstrom, Minn.), on in relief of Brown, held the Auggies scoreless in the sixth, and Nathan Mathwig (Woodbury, Minn.) came on to set Augsburg down in order in the seventh—including back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.
Piechowski and Dixon Irwin (Plover, Wis.) each finished with two hits to pace the Cardinals' seven-hit Game 2 attack.
 
The Cardinals (10-4 MIAC, 16-13 overall) have a quick turnaround, returning to Max Molock Field on Thursday, as they host Saint John's in a 2:30 p.m. conference doubleheader.