ST. PETER, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team handed Gustavus Adolphus College its first home loss of the season in game one before the Gusties secured the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) regular-season title with a late rally in game two on Saturday afternoon at Gustie Baseball Field.

In the opener, St. Olaf (14-17, 9-8 MIAC) got a go-ahead two-run home run from sophomore Matthew Kulesa in the sixth inning to deal Gustavus (26-12, 16-4 MIAC) its first loss of the season on its home turf with a 4-3 win. The Gusties rebounded by putting together two three-run innings to claim a 10-8 victory in a back-and-forth game two.

Entering the day, the Gusties had won all 14 of their home games this season, outscoring opponents by a 150-45 margin, but the Oles ended that streak with just their second victory in the last 14 meetings in the series between the two programs. Gustavus began the day needing just one win to secure the regular-season title and the top seed in next week's four-team MIAC Playoffs.

The split left St. Olaf in fifth in the conference standings, as the Oles vie for the final spot with Concordia-Moorhead, who St. Olaf faces in Moorhead on Tuesday, May 9. Before then, the Cobbers host Bethel University in a doubleheader on Monday, May 8, while the Oles finish their suspended game against Augsburg University at home on Monday at 4 p.m.

St. Olaf 4, Gustavus 3 | Box Score

Kulesa hit the go-ahead two-run home run in St. Olaf's three-run sixth inning and junior Brock Brumley slammed the door by getting the final five outs to record the save. Brumley allowed one hit and one walk with one strikeout for his third save of the season.

The Oles had just four hits in the game, but three of them came in a row in the decisive top of the sixth. Four St. Olaf pitchers held Gustavus to five hits – tied for the Gusties' second-lowest total of the season – in the win.

Sophomore Justin Isaacson picked up the first victory of his collegiate career despite allowing two runs in his 1.1 innings of relief work. Junior Sam Lavin yielded just a solo home run and struck out three over the first two innings and first year Kevin Steel tossed two shutout innings before Isaacson and Brumley worked the final three innings.

Drake Siens gave Gustavus the first run of the game with a solo home run to start the bottom of the second. St. Olaf got the run back in the next half inning, filling the bases with one out on an error, a single by sophomore Evan Hammonds, and a walk before Lavin drove in a run with a ground out.

Nick Azar put the Gusties back on top with a solo home run off of Isaacson in the fifth, but the Oles again responded in the next half inning. After junior Joey Glampe drew a walk to start the inning, Kulesa hit a two-run shot – his third of the season – to left to put the Oles ahead for good. Following a pitching change, first years Frank Lavin and Goldman hit back-to-back doubles to add what proved to be the eventual game-winning run.

Gustavus got a run in the bottom of the sixth to get back within one and had runners on first and second with two outs in the home half of the seventh before Brumley got a ground ball to Kulesa at shortstop to end it.

Gustavus 10, St. Olaf 8 | Box Score

The Gusties got the one win they needed on the day to secure the regular-season title by scoring three times in the bottom of the eighth to take a back-and-forth nightcap. St. Olaf plated four runs in the first and held the lead until the sixth before Gustavus put together a pair of three-run innings late.

The Oles outhit the Gusties by a 15-12 count in the game, with the 15 hits being St. Olaf's joint second-highest total of the season. Glampe hit an early two-run home run as part of a 3-for-5 performance, Kulesa was 3-for-5 with three runs scored, and Goldman was 2-for-5 with a career-high three RBI. First year Jack Pettit added the first three-hit game of his collegiate career and drew a walk to reach base four times.

In the top of the first, the Oles scored four runs on five hits to get out to an early lead. With St. Olaf already leading 1-0, Glampe belted a two-run home run – his third of the season – to left to highlight the inning, which also included a two-out run-scoring single by Goldman. Gustavus scored the next three runs to get within one before Goldman added another RBI single in the third to make it 5-3.

St. Olaf held a 6-4 lead until Gustavus started the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back singles followed by a three-run home run by Gavin Baker to take its first lead of the game at 7-6. The lead didn't last long for the hosts, however, as the Oles scored twice in the top of the seventh on a pair of ground balls after opening the inning with three-straight singles.

The Gusties benefited from an error, a hit batter, and a walk to begin the bottom of the eighth to eventually plate three runs to go back ahead, as Logan Bjorkman delivered the go-ahead two-run single. St. Olaf got the tying run to the plate after a leadoff walk in the ninth, but a double-play grounder and another ground out ended the game.