St. Mary's (Minn.) head coach Nick Winecke earned his 200th win in a battle of Cardinal teams. File photo by Caleb Williams d3photography

SANDFORD, Fla. — The Saint Mary's University baseball turned up the offensive heat Tuesday afternoon — and helped head coach Nick Winecke reach a coaching milestone in the process.

Saint Mary's erupted for a season-high 11 runs — its highest offensive output since scoring 14 runs in an 18-14 loss to Rose-Hulman on Feb. 26, 2019 — en route to an 11-4 nine-inning victory over No. 14 St. John Fisher at Sanford Stadium.

And the win not only evened Saint Mary's early-season record at 2-2, but it also gave Winecke his 200th career coaching victory.

After a pair of scoreless innings, St. John Fisher finally got to SMU starter Ryan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) in the top of the third, as Allen Murphy belted a two-out, solo home run to give Fisher a 1-0 lead.

A lead that lasted just one out in the bottom of the third.

Matthew Piechowski (Hutchinson, Minn.) got things going for Saint Mary's in the bottom of the third, drawing a one-out walk, and Justin Weinberg (Eagan, Minn.) and Andy Tepp (Stevens Point, Wis.) followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases. Will Matthews (Geneva, Ill.) recorded SMU's third straight single — this one a two-run shot up the middle — to give Saint Mary's a 2-1 lead. One out later, Saint Mary's collected its fourth single of the inning, this one an RBI rope to center by Kody Kiel (Owatonna, Minn.) to plate Matthews with the third run of the inning.

Saint Mary's padded its lead to 5-1 with a pair of unearned runs in the fourth, before stringing together four consecutive hits to open the sixth — capped by another RBI single from Matthews — to make it 6-1.

And Saint Mary's wasn't finished.

After Matthews' RBI single chased Fisher pitcher Connor McHugh, and reliever Alec Teska got the first out of the inning via strikeout, Kiel laced a two run single, Joey Costello (Victoria, Minn.) scored on a throwing error, and Zach Drake (Westby, Wis.) drove in another run on a sacrifice fly ­— and the lead had ballooned to 10-1.

Saint Mary's tacked on another run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Liam Belleveau (Middleton, Wis.) to make it 11-1, before St. John Fisher got to reliever Joe Bauer (Pine Island, Minn.) for three runs on three hits to make the final score 11-4.

Weinberg and Kiel led the Saint Mary's 17-hit offensive attack with four hits each, while Tepp added three hits, and Piechowski and Matthews each delivered two. Matthews and Kiel each chipped in three RBIs, with Piechowski and Weinberg both scoring three times.

Wolfe picked up the win on the mound, allowing just one run on six hits, while walking one and striking out six.

The Cardinals (2-2 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, squaring off against Fontbonne in a nine-inning nonconference game in Auburndale, Fla. First pitch is set for 10:15 a.m. EST.

By DONNY NADEAU Saint Mary's Sports Information Director