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MINNETONKA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University baseball team recorded its biggest win of the season with its 4-2, 10-inning victory over top-seeded St. Thomas in the opening round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Friday evening at Veteran's Stadium.

When the two teams met again Saturday evening in a win-or-go-home elimination game, the Cardinals were poised to write another chapter in their Cinderella story.

St. Thomas, however, had other ideas, as the Tommies — fueled by back-to-back three-run innings in the sixth and seventh innings — cruised to a 10-2 victory, ousting the Cardinals from post-season play.

The Tommies scored in their first at-bat, but SMU responded in the bottom of the second, getting an RBI single by Paul LaNasa (Mahtomedi, Minn.) that scored Curt Swanson (Woodbury, Minn.).

UST regained the lead, 2-1, on a one-out home run by Charles Bruchu in the third — then pushed its advantage to 5-1 with three runs in the sixth.

The Cardinals got one run back in their half of the sixth, as Andy Edholm (Hudson, Wis.) — who led off the inning with a single — scored on a two-out St. Thomas error to cut the deficit to 5-2 heading into the seventh.

Matt Biagini (Bloomington, Minn.) pitched the first six innings for the Cardinals, giving way to Sean Minder (Maplewood, Minn.) to open the seventh inning. Biagini allowed five runs — three earned — on seven hits, while striking out a season-high seven UST batters.

Unfortunately for Minder, the Tommies were not a very gracious welcoming committee, as Bruchu laced a one-out double and Dan Reichert followed with an RBI triple. Minder got J.D. Dorgan to ground out to second, but back-to-back singles by Jack Hogan and Jon Kinsel gave UST its second straight three-run inning and pushed the Tommies' advantage to 8-2.

The Tommies added two more runs in the ninth, loading the bases with two outs — before getting an RBI single from Ben Podobinski and a bases-loaded walk by Tim Kuzniar to make it 10-2.

The Cardinals five hits off UST starter Steve Maher came from five different players — Edholm, LaNasa, Jon Schlemmer (De Pere, Wis.), Vince Lulic (Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Zach Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.).

The Cardinals, who were making their first post-season appearance since 2002, close out the season with a 22-19 record — their most wins since going  closes out the season with a 22-20 record — marking the first time SMU has reached the 20-win plateau since 1996, when they finished 23-15.