ST. PAUL, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team used an eight-run seventh inning to end its season with an 11-5 victory over the University of Northwestern in a non-conference matchup on Monday evening at Reynolds Field.

St. Olaf (16-17) trailed 5-3 through six innings before exploding for eight runs in the seventh inning and held onto the lead thanks to three perfect innings from first year Matthew Oberlander to end its season with a win over the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular-season champions. Northwestern (23-12) saw its eight-game winning streak come to an end with the loss ahead of the UMAC Tournament, which begins on Thursday.

Nine Oles had at least one hit in the win, including senior Andrew Nomoto, who went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, two runs, and three RBI after entering the game in the fifth inning. Sophomore Sam Lavin got on base three times, going 1-for-3 with a double, two walks, a run, and two RBI, while fifth-year senior Matthew Muller and first year Justin Isaacson each had two hits and one RBI.

First years Jacob Fickenscher and Matthew Oberlander combined for 18 strikeouts on the mound for the Oles, as Fickenscher fanned a career-high 11 over his five innings of three-run ball. Oberlander earned his first-career save by striking out five while retiring all nine batters he faced over the final three frames. Sophomore Derek Hansen picked up his third win of the season by getting St. Olaf through the sixth inning while striking out two.

Fickenscher did not walk a batter over his five innings, finishing the season with just two walks in 46.1 innings of work. The first year entered the game ranked second in NCAA Division III in fewest walks allowed per nine innings (0.44).

The teams were scheduled to play a doubleheader, but a lightning delay that lasted an hour and 42 minutes led the teams to play a single nine-inning game. The Eagles started quickly in the first, getting a 1-2-3 inning from Sam Szymanski before stringing together three two-out hits to score twice in the bottom of the inning.

Szymanski held the Oles hitless through four innings before being pulled in the fifth. After a leadoff walk to sophomore Brian Nevin, Nomoto and first year Cameron Hammonds delivered back-to-back RBI singles to tie the game at 2-2. Later in the inning, a walk to first year Matthew Kulesa and a bunt single by Muller loaded the bases for sophomore Joey Glampe, who broke the tie with a run-scoring single through the left side to give St. Olaf a 3-2 lead.

Northwestern tied the game in the home half of the inning on a two-out RBI single by Sam Peterson and went ahead at 5-3 by taking advantage of back-to-back walks to start the sixth to score two more runs. Trailing 5-3, the Oles' bats came alive for eight runs on seven hits in the seventh for the final runs of the game.

With two on and one out, Lavin drove a two-run double to the gap in left center and got to third on an error on the play. First year Jack Alley followed with the go-ahead RBI single to right to bring in Lavin. Isaacson and Nevin added RBI doubles of their own before Nomoto blasted his third home run of the season to left to tack on two more runs and make it 10-5. Muller capped the inning with an RBI single. Six-straight batters reached in the inning starting with a walk to Glampe before Lavin's double.

Oberlander took care of the rest, throwing three perfect innings with five strikeouts to finish off the win. Four pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts in the game for St. Olaf. Seven pitchers worked in the game for Northwestern.