April 8

Cardinals hand Pipers loss in MIAC opener

After waiting nearly two weeks to play their first conference game, the Pipers and the Cardinals played extra innings in the first game of the year at Midway Stadium, but Saint Mary’s University came out on top in both halves of the double-header, 2-1 in 10 innings and 5-4 in the second game.

The Pipers and the Cardinals played eight scoreless innings, before Saint Mary’s scored the first run of the game in the top of the ninth on a one-out sacrifice fly.

In the bottom of the inning, Tres Humerickhouse (Fy., Farmington, Minn.) drew a lead-off walk to put the tying run on base. He then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Lincoln Hughes (So., Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and was driven home by a single to left field from Tony Rogers (Fy., Elk River, Minn.) to tie the game at 1-1.

Saint Mary’s scored the winning run in the top of the 10th after a lead-off single, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI single.

Josh Roiger (Sr., West St. Paul, Minn.) struck out twelve batters and gave up just three hits and no earned runs while throwing nine innings in the opening game.

Brian Martin (Sr., Golden Valley, Minn.) took the loss on the mound, throwing one inning and giving up two hits and one run.

In game two, only one scoreless inning passed before the Cardinals scored two in the top of the second to take the early lead.

Hamline countered in the bottom half of the frame, as Ben Smith (Jr., Orono, Minn.) hit a lead-off double and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Rogers then hit his second RBI single of the day to close the Cardinal lead to 2-1.

Saint Mary’s added one more run in the top of the third, before Hamline scored three in the third to take a one-run lead at 4-3.

Skip Fuller (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn.) hit a one-out single, followed by one from Dan Kaczrowski (Jr., St. Anthony, Minn.). Jayden Grupe (Sr., Trimont, Minn.) drew a walk to load the bases, before Andrew Bennett (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) repeated with patience at the plate that walked home a run. Smith then singled to send home the final two Piper runs of the day.

The Cardinals pulled out the win by scoring two runs on three hits in the fifth inning.

Andrew Beltowsky (So., Minneapolis, Minn.) took the loss for the Pipers.

Hamline dropped to 11-10, 0-2 MIAC, while Saint Mary’s improved to 5-10, 2-4 MIAC with the two games.

The Pipers travel to Carleton tomorrow, Wednesday, April 9, to play a 2:30 p.m. double-header, rescheduled from the opening weekend of MIAC play.

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