INDIANOLA, Iowa – The St. Olaf College baseball team finished off a series win on opening weekend by routing Simpson College, 15-2, in seven innings in the rubber game on Sunday afternoon at McBride Field.

After being limited to six hits and three runs in a doubleheader split the day before, St. Olaf (2-1) broke out for 15 runs on 15 hits to come away with two victories from its opening weekend at Simpson (1-5). Already leading 5-2, the Oles scored 10 runs in the sixth inning, marking the team's highest-scoring inning since plating 10 runs in the third inning of a 15-2 victory against Kalamzaoo College on March 27, 2019.

Junior Sam Lavin led five Oles with multi-hit games by going 2-for-4 with a walk, a grand slam, and a career-high five RBI, while sophomore Evan Hammonds had his second-career three-hit game by going 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI. In his first collegiate game after missing last season due to injury, sophomore Luke Crawshaw went 2-for-5 with three runs scored, while junior Brian Nevin also scored three times with a 1-for-3 day that included a pair of walks and one RBI.

Sophomore Jack Alley went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored in his first-career multi-hit game, while first years Breckin Hadley and Jack Pettit drove in the first runs of their collegiate careers. First year Frank Lavin reached base three times with two doubles, a walk, and a run scored in three at bats.

On the mound, Sam Lavin struck out seven while allowing one run on just two hits over the first three innings in his first start of the season. Junior Will Wamre collected the third victory of his career after yielding just one run on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts over his three innings of relief. Junior Brock Brumley had a strikeout in a scoreless seventh inning in his first appearance as an Ole.

Already up 1-0 thanks to a first-inning run, St. Olaf extended its lead to 5-0 in the second by scoring four two-out runs. With the bases loaded and two outs, Hammonds bounced a single into the hole at shortstop to bring in a run and sophomore Matthew Kulesa followed with a bases-clearing double to left center to cap the four-run inning.

Simpson got single runs in the third and fourth to close the gap to 5-2 before the Oles broke the game wide open in the sixth. With the bases loaded and a run already in in the inning, Sam Lavin belted his first-career grand slam – the fourth home run of his collegiate career – to right center for the big hit of the inning. Hadley, Pettit, Alley, and Hammonds all had run-scoring hits in the frame as well.

Seven of the nine starters had at least one hit, a run scored, and one RBI for St. Olaf, while the three Ole pitchers held the Storm to five hits in the game. Simpson left 10 runners on base in the game.

The Oles are back in action with a three-game set at Wartburg College on Saturday and Sunday, March 18-19.