NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Junior Sam Lavin threw a two-hit shutout in game one and reached base all five times in game two to lead the St. Olaf College baseball team to 6-0 and 15-8 victories over crosstown-rival Carleton College on Tuesday at Mark Almli Field.

Lavin tossed the first shutout of his collegiate career and St. Olaf (13-14, 8-5 MIAC) used back-to-back three-run innings in the middle innings to blank Carleton (8-21, 3-13 MIAC) in the opener. In the nightcap, Lavin had four hits and drew a walk, while younger brother Sam Lavin hit a grand slam, to power the Oles' season-high 17-hit attack.

The sweep was the first for either team in the series since 2018, as St. Olaf improved to 8-2 in the last 10 meetings with Carleton since 2017. The Oles also stayed in the hunt for a spot in the MIAC Playoffs, remaining in a tie in the loss column with Saint John's University and Concordia-Moorhead, who are both 11-5 in conference play.

St. Olaf's remaining schedule includes doubleheaders with three of the top-four teams in the MIAC standings, beginning with a twin bill at Saint John's on Wednesday, May 3 at 2:30 and 5 p.m.

St. Olaf 6, Carleton 0 | Box Score

Sam Lavin needed just 82 pitches to complete his game-one shutout, holding Carleton to two hits with no walks and six strikeouts. The junior retired the final 15 batters he faced after allowing a leadoff single in the top of the third. The lone other hit the Knights managed was a two-out double in the second.

Lavin also was 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI to join sophomore Evan Hammonds and first year Brendan Goldman with two-hit games. Hammonds was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Goldman also scored a run.

In a scoreless game, Lavin helped his own cause by driving in the lone run he would need with a one-out single in the third that scored Hammonds, who was hit by a pitch to start the inning, stole second, and got to third on a deep fly ball. The Oles added two more runs in the inning, scoring on a wild pitch and a throwing error by the Knights.

St. Olaf made it back-to-back three-run innings in the fourth, scoring all three runs before the first out of the inning. With runners on the corner and nobody out, Hammonds singled to right to plate Goldman before first year Breckin Hadley laced a two-run double to right center for what proved to be the final runs of the game.

St. Olaf 15, Carleton 8 | Box Score

Five Oles had multi-hit games in game two, as St. Olaf mashed nine extra-base hits among its season-high 17 hits. Sam Lavin had the second four-hit game of his collegiate career, going 4-for-4 with a walk, two doubles, two runs scored, and three RBI.

Hammonds recorded his fourth-straight multi-hit game with a 3-for-5 game that included two doubles, a walk, a stolen base, two RBI, and three runs scored. First year Mason Buck had his first-career three-hit game, while junior Brian Nevin and senior Harald Borg added two hits apiece. Frank Lavin made the most of his lone hit of the game with a sixth-inning grand slam.

First year Kevin Steel picked up his third victory of the season after working the first 5.2 innings before sophomore Justin Isaacson threw the final 3.1 innings to her the first save of his career. Steel limited the Knights to two runs through the first five innings before running into trouble in the sixth.

Carleton scored twice on just one hit in the top of the first and maintained that lead until St. Olaf went ahead in the third. With the bases loaded and two outs, St. Olaf got runs on a wild pitch and a bases-loaded walk to sophomore Jack Alley to tie the game before Nevin reached on a run-scoring infield single that was followed by an error to allow the fourth run of the inning to score.

The Oles added single runs in the fourth and fifth to push their lead to 6-2, but the Knights got back within a run by scoring three times in the sixth. St. Olaf quickly responded in the next half inning, as Frank Lavin's grand slam to right highlighted a five-run inning that gave the Oles an 11-5 lead.

Sam Chutkow capped a four-hit, four-RBI game for Carleton with a two-run home run in the eighth to bring the visitors back within four. After the first two batters of the bottom of the eighth were retired, six-straight St. Olaf hitters reached – four via an extra-base hit – to push across four runs. Hammonds provided a two-run double in the inning before sophomore Matthew Kulesa and Sam Lavin delivered RBI doubles.