WINONA, Minn. – Head coach Matt McDonald recorded the 600th win of his career, as the St. Olaf College baseball team got a 14-strikeout, one-hit shutout from senior Sam Westermeyer in a 9-0 game-two victory after dropping game one, 5-4, in extra innings to open Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Saturday at Max Molock Field.

Westermeyer held Saint Mary's (11-10, 3-1 MIAC) to one hit and fanned 14 – the most by an Ole since Ben Hughes had 16 in a 12-4 victory over Edgewood on March 28, 2010 – to pitch St. Olaf (7-7, 1-1 MIAC) to the game-two win and get McDonald the 600th victory of his career. McDonald is the 34th active NCAA Division III head baseball coach to reach the 600-win milestone.

In game one, senior Andrew Nomoto belted a three-run home run in the seventh to give the Oles a 4-3 lead, but the Cardinals got a run in the bottom of the inning to send the game to extra innings. The score remained tied at 4-4 until the 10th, when Bob Tilot delivered a walk-off single to give the hosts a 5-4 win.

St. Olaf plays its second of back-to-back MIAC doubleheaders on Sunday, April 10 when the Oles take on Augsburg in a neutral-site twin bill in River Falls, Wis. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. at First National Bank of River Falls Field.

Saint Mary's 5, St. Olaf 4 (10 inn.) | Box Score

In game one, Saint Mary's jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and held that lead until St. Olaf mounted a late rally with a run in the sixth before Nomoto's three-run home run in the seventh. The Cardinals got a run on a double play in the home half of the seventh and went on to generate a two-out rally to claim the walk-off win in the 10th.

The hosts started the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles and filled the bases with one out on a walk. After another strikeout, Ben Coons drew a bases-loaded walk before Mason Coyle delivered a two-run double to give Saint Mary's an early 3-0 lead.

The Cardinals maintained their 3-0 advantage until the top of the sixth when first year Matthew Kulesa plated Nomoto with a two-out double to get the Oles on the board. With St. Olaf down to its final out in the seventh, sophomore Joey Glampe kept the Oles alive with a two-out single to put two runners on base for Nomoto, who hit a three-run shot for his first home run of the season to give St. Olaf the lead.

Saint Mary's started the home half of the seventh with a single, a stolen base, and another single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. St. Olaf got the next batter to hit into a double play, but that brought in the game-tying run as the game went to extra innings tied at 4-4.

Sophomore Will Wamre retired the first eight batters he faced in extra innings before the Cardinals claimed the walk-off win with a two-out single, a stolen base, an intentional walk, and a single by Tilot.

Sophomore Sam Lavin took a no-decision after allowing four runs on eight hits with three walks and eight strikeouts over the first seven innings. Wamre had four strikeouts over his 2.2 innings but took the loss.

The Oles held a 13-10 advantage in hits in the game and did not commit an error defensively. Andrew Fischer earned the win for Saint Mary's by not allowing a hit over his three innings of relief.

St. Olaf 9, Saint Mary's 0 | Box Score

The only hit Westermeyer allowed in his 14-strikeout one-hitter was a two-out single in the fourth inning as he picked up his second win of the season. It was the sixth complete game of the senior's career and his fourth shutout.

The Oles got at least one hit from eight of their nine hitters and had 11 hits in the game. Glampe hit a pair of solo home runs, Kulesa provided a two-run single, and sophomore Sean Goldman added two hits, a run, and an RBI out of the leadoff spot.

St. Olaf gave Westermeyer the only run support he would need with a pair of runs in the second. Nomoto and Lavin started the inning with a double and a single to put runners on the corners before sophomore Evan Clark got a run home on a double-play ground out. Sophomore Brian Nevin drove in the second run of the inning with a two-out RBI single.

Glampe hit the first of his two solo home runs with one out in the third to make it a 3-0 game before Goldman plated a run with a two-out RBI single in the fourth. The Oles broke a 4-0 game wide open with three more runs in the fifth, scoring on Glampe's second home run of the game to start the inning and a two-run single by Kulesa later in the frame.

St. Olaf scratched across two more runs in the sixth on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Clark. Westermeyer had two of his three walks in the seventh inning but finished off the shutout by retiring the final two batters, getting his 14th strikeout of the game for the final out.