ST. PAUL – While the University of Northwestern was excited to finally play a game on the newly renovated Reynolds Field, the Eagles dropped both games of a Tuesday afternoon doubleheader against Saint Mary's University, 4-1 and 10-5.

Northwestern was within a run of the Cardinals until the seventh inning in Game 1, hanging with Saint Mary's in what was a 2-1 battle throughout most of the contest. It was the Cardinals that scored first, taking advantage of an Eagles fielding error in the top of the third inning that allowed two runs to cross the plate in a three-run frame. After watching the pair of unearned runs score, UNW starting pitcher Connor Olson (Mahtomedi, Minn/Mahtomedi) finished the inning with a strikeout for the third out.

On the other side, Saint Mary's offered sidearm right-handed pitcher A.J. Redders, who held the Eagles hitless through the first two innings. Double plays would plague UNW for much of the game, with the first coming in the third frame as the Eagles had runners on first and second. Another double play ended a UNW threat in the bottom of the fourth, but not before Tyler Osborn (Clive, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) scored on Nathan Ehnstrum's RBI single through the right side to put Northwestern on the board. Osborn notched UNW's first hit with a leadoff double off the fence in left field.

Olson and the Northwestern defense got a double play of their own in the fifth as Saint Mary's had runners on first and second with one out. A 6-4-3 play kept the Eagles within one run of the Cardinals, setting up a bottom half of the inning that would see UNW load the bases. Osborn, who started the day with a .500 average, faced new pitcher Nathan Mathwig and struck out swinging on a full count to leave the runners stranded.

Olson got out of another jam from the hill in the top of the sixth, but for the third time, Northwestern wasn't able to convert with a runner on base thanks to the double play curse.

UNW headed into the seventh still within a run of the Cards, but that slim margin soon widened as Jon Schlemmer broke the game open with an RBI triple for Saint Mary's. Olson started to show signs of wear as the inning went on; the senior had Ben Buerkle down 0-2 before the Cardinals left fielder watched four straight balls, a walk that would eventually haunt Northwestern as Buerkle later scored. Benjamin Jenney (Albertville, Minn./Maranatha Christian) relieved Olson before UNW could record an out in the seventh, but the Eagles went three up, three down in the bottom half of the frame to end the game.

Ehnstrom went 2-3 in his home debut for Northwestern with the team's lone RBI of the game. Olson's line had the senior giving up 10 hits and four runs, two of which were earned, amidst seven strikeouts.

While much of Game 1 gave UNW hope that it could hang with the Cardinals, Saint Mary's zapped that enthusiasm right off the bat in the day's second game. Troy Nelson (Buena Park, Calif. /Buena Park)'s outing on the mound lasted only two innings as SMU torched the second-year Eagle for five runs on nine hits, leading to Tucker Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) finishing the final five frames for the Eagles.

Morrell yielded two more runs in the third inning and another in the fourth before calming down for a few frames. Northwestern looked at a 7-0 deficit on the right field scoreboard as Saint Mary's owned an 11-2 advantage in hits after three complete innings.

UNW came to life in the fifth as Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) scored from third on a Braxton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls) RBI groundout. Mike Studer added his second home run of the season in the sixth inning, taking the Cardinals' Austin Jacobs' pitch deep over the 20-foot fence in left field.
Northwestern had life again after a two-run top of the seventh for Saint Mary's. Osborn faced a familiar situation with the bases loaded and a full count, but avenged his Game 1 strikeout in the same scenario with a one out, two-RBI single that carried to the top half of the fence in right center. The second-year player couldn't advance to second as the Eagles' remaining runners were prepared to tag up in the event that the fly ball was caught. That would be the last of UNW's offense though, as a Studer strikeout and Enstrom's groundout ended the game with Saint Mary's on top 10-5.

Lindow and Tucker Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) both collected two hits at the plate in Game 2, with Studer and Osborn both posting two-RBI performances. Osborn had at least one hit in both of Tuesday's games.

Northwestern will have a week to prepare for its next opponent as Hamline University is scheduled to come to Reynolds Field next Tuesday, March 24 in another game that was bumped up from a later date. First pitch for the Eagles against the Pipers is 4 p.m.

Notes:
Tuesday marked Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School)'s first collegiate game, start, and hit. The sophomore, who has been a two-year member of the men's basketball team, finished his campaign with that group last Friday in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Morrell's game-winning, buzzer-beating three-pointer against third-ranked St. Thomas on March 6 was featured on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 plays.