NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team improved to 6-0 in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play for the first time since 2007 by sweeping the College of St. Scholastica with 7-0 and 10-5 victories on Tuesday afternoon at Mark Almli Field.

St. Olaf (15-8, 6-0 MIAC) remained the lone undefeated team in conference play with its first sweep of St. Scholastica (13-8, 3-5 MIAC) since the Saints rejoined the MIAC prior to the 2022 season. The Oles remained the lone undefeated team in MIAC play this season with the two wins.

St. Olaf returns to Mark Almli Field for a single nine-inning game against non-conference foe Crown College on Wednesday, April 10 at 3 p.m.

St. Olaf 7, St. Scholastica 0 | Box Score

Senior Sam Lavin led St. Olaf to a win in the opener by striking out 10 in a two-hit shutout while also homering and driving in three runs. Lavin walked just two batters in his 92-pitch shutout, which was the second shutout of his collegiate career. The 10-strikeout performance brought the senior's total to 52 strikeouts in 35.0 innings of work this season.

In addition to his work on the mound, Lavin was 2-for-3 with a walk, a two-run home run, and a run-scoring single for St. Olaf. Junior Evan Hammonds reached base three times by going 2-for-3 with a walk, a double, and a run scored, while sophomore Mason Buck and first year Cole Pleimann both had a hit and an RBI.

The Oles gave Lavin the only run he would need in the bottom of the first when Pleimann drove a sacrifice fly to left field after coming to bat with the bases loaded and one out. Hammonds, Lavin, and sophomore Breckin Hadley drew walks in the inning to fill the bases for Pleimann.

St. Olaf stretched its lead to 3-0 in the third when Lavin blasted his team-leading fourth home run of the season to right field with one out after Hammonds started the inning with a single. St. Scholastica got the tying run to the plate in the top of the fourth after drawing back-to-back two-out walks, but Lavin got a strikeout to keep the shutout intact. The inning marked the only time the Saints got a runner to second base in the game.

In the sixth, the Oles broke the game open with four runs on four hits, while also benefiting from a throwing error by the Saints on a sacrifice bunt. After Pleimann and senior Joey Glampe started the inning with consecutive singles, junior Matthew Kulesa put down a bunt to advance the runners, but St. Scholastica did not have someone at first base allowing the throw to go all the way down the right-field line to allow both runners to score. Buck following with an RBI single and Lavin drove in the final run with a two-out single later in the inning.

St. Olaf 10, St. Scholastica 5 | Box Score

St. Olaf got out to a 4-1 lead in game two before St. Scholastica scored three runs in the sixth to tie the game at 4-4. The Oles used home runs from Glampe and sophomore Christopher Woodside to score six of the game's final seven runs to break the tie and finish off the sweep.

Four Oles put together multi-hit games in St. Olaf's 14-hit attack. Kulesa was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored, while Woodside was 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, two runs scored, and three RBI. Glampe added a home run and drove in three times, while Hammonds and Buck collected a pair of hits.

Sophomore Kevin Steel – the reigning MIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week – held St. Scholastica to one run on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts over 5.0 innings in a no-decision. First year Kieran Haaland benefited from the late home runs to pick up his second win of the season despite allowing four runs in 2.0 innings. Senior Brock Brumley retired all six batters he faced in the eighth and ninth innings.

St. Olaf opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Glampe. Pleimann started the inning with a single before Woodside narrowly missed a home run but settled for a double high off the wall to put two runners in scoring position for Glampe.

After the Saints got a run in the top of the third to tie the game at 1-1, the Oles put three runs on the board in the next half inning to quickly go back ahead. Hammonds led off the inning with a single before scoring on a throwing error on Kulesa's double to right. Lavin followed with a single up the middle to score Kulesa and Pleimann brought in the final run of the inning two batters later with a ground out.

St. Olaf maintained the 4-1 lead until St. Scholastica tied the game for the second time with a three-run top of the sixth. The Oles got the final out of the inning at the plate on a relay from left field to prevent the Saints from taking their first lead of the day.

It did not take St. Olaf long to grab the lead back for good when Glampe drove a 1-0 pitch over the fence in left center for a two-run home run with one away in the bottom of the sixth. St. Scholastica pulled a run back on a solo home run in the seventh before Woodside delivered a two-out, three-run home run to left for his first collegiate home run in the bottom of the inning to give St. Olaf a 9-5 lead. Hammonds drove in the final run of the game with a single in the eighth.