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MINNETONKA, Minn. — For the Saint Mary's University baseball team, Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament showdown with Saint John's looked eerily similar to Friday's opener against top-seeded St. Thomas — which ended in a 4-2, 10-inning SMU victory.

Against the high-powered Tommies, the Cardinals entered the eighth inning having managed just one hit — but were in the midst of a 2-2 stalemate.

Against the Johnnies on Saturday, the Cardinals headed into the eighth inning having managed just two hits — but were again in the midst of a 2-2 stalemate.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, that's where the similarities ended, as Saint John's scored two runs in the top of the eighth and did not allow any late-inning Cardinal heroics, handing SMU a 4-2 setback in the double-elimination tournament.

With the loss, the Cardinals are right back in action at 6 p.m. on Saturday, squaring off once again with St. Thomas in a win-or-go-home matchup. SJU, meanwhile, advances to Sunday's championship game against the winner of the SMU-UST contest.

The Johnnies wracked up five hits in the game's first three innings Saturday — two in both the first and second, and lead-off double to start the third — but each time, SMU starter Justin Kronebusch (Altura, Minn.) was able to work out of the jam.

It was the Cardinals who got on the board first in the bottom of the third, as Danny Geraghty (Park Ridge, Ill.) opened with a walk and promptly stole second. SJU starter Ryan Spengler nearly worked his way out of the jam, recording back-to-back strikeouts of Mike Feriancek (River Falls, Wis.) and Pat Krieger (Mendota Heights, Minn.), before Kevin Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) delivered an RBI single — the Cardinals' first hit of the afternoon — to put SMU up 1-0. Gannon stole second and moved to third on an SJU error, but Spengler recorded his third strikeout of the inning, fanning Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.) to end the threat.

SMU made it 2-0 in the fourth, as Vince Lulic (Mendota Heights, Minn.) drew a one-out walk, stole second and scored on an SJU error.

It was a Cardinal error that let the Johnnies knot things up in the top of the fifth, as SJU put together back-to-back singles to open the inning — with both scoring on a bizarre error on a Pfaff sacrifice bunt. Catcher Curt Swanson (Woodbury, Minn.) field Aaron Pfaff's bunt, with his throw to Paul LaNasa (Mahtomedi, Minn.) barely beating the runner, but Pfaff hit the glove hand of LaNasa, sending the ball down the right-field line, allowing both runners to score.

SJU opened the sixth with a lead-off single through the left side by Dylan Graves. Graves was sacrificed to second, but Kronebusch continued to work his Houdini act, getting Josh Groth to fly out to shallow right and Joey Long to strike out looking to end the inning.

LaNasa singled to center to lead off the SMU seventh — just the Cardinals' second hit of the afternoon and first since Gannon's RBI single in the third. Wolfe sacrificed him to second, but that's where LaNasa would remain, as Spengler induced a Geraghty fly out and a pinch-hit strikeout by Andy Edholm (Hudson, Wis.).

Max Forster led off the eighth with a double off the base of the fence in left-center and Graves singled to right, putting runners on first and third — and sending Kronebusch to the showers. SJU's Luke Larson welcomed reliever Sam Nord (Mendota Heights, Minn.) with a run-scoring sacrifice fly to left to score Forster and give the Johnnies a 3-2 advantage. SJU took advantage of an SMU throwing error to score an insurance run to push its lead to 4-2.

SMU got the lead-off runner on in its half of the eighth, as reliever Connor Cline hit Krieger to open the inning, but Gannon struck out swinging, and Schlemmer grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.

And in the ninth, SJU handed the ball to Long — the Johnnies' all-time saves leader. Curt Swanson (Woodbury, Minn.) welcomed the Johnnie reliever with a double, but Lulic flew out to left, LaNasa grounded out to third, and pinch-hitter Matt Tessmer (West St. Paul, Minn.) struck out.