MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team outhit the University of Minnesota by a 7-6 margin in a 5-1 loss to the Golden Gophers on Wednesday afternoon at Siebert Field.

St. Olaf (4-5) tallied seven hits in the game compared to six for Minnesota (7-7), but the hosts took advantage of eight walks to claim the win in their home opener. The game was the first meeting between the two programs since 1998 in a series that dates back to 1927 and was the first game for the Oles against a NCAA Division I opponent since a season-opening doubleheader against the University of South Dakota on Feb. 26, 2003.

Nine St. Olaf pitchers combined to hold Minnesota to six hits over eight innings. Junior Matthew Oberlander, junior David Scheil, first year Sam Hruska, senior Brock Brumley, senior Sam Lavin, and first year Carter Follman all tossed scoreless innings for the Oles.

Lavin and sophomore Mason Buck had two hits apiece for St. Olaf, with Buck driving in the Oles' lone run of the game with a fourth-inning single. Junior Evan Hammonds, sophomore Jack Pettit, and junior Matthew Kulesa also registered hits in the loss. The Oles got a runner on base in every inning except the sixth and ninth but was 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. All 13 of the game's hits were singles.

Hammonds got the game started with a single to right field on the first pitch of the afternoon and advanced to second on a wild pitch to give St. Olaf a runner in scoring position right away. Minnesota starter Nick Argento proceeded to strike out the side to leave Hammonds at second. Argento scattered three hits and did not walk a batter over the first 3.0 innings.

Minnesota took capitalized on two walks and a hit batter to score three times in the bottom of the first and stake Argento to an early lead. Hammonds helped the Oles get out of the inning without further damage by throwing a runner out at third from center field for the second out of the inning.

St. Olaf got a runner on base in each of the first three innings before scoring its only run of the game in the fourth. Sophomore Breckin Hadley drew a leadoff walk, stole second with one out, and came around to score when Buck dropped a single into left field with two away.

After Hruksa threw a 1-2 inning in the fourth in his collegiate debut, Brumley struck out the final two batters of the fifth to leave Gophers at second and third in the fifth. The Oles got the tying run to the plate with one out in the seventh and eighth innings, but neither runner got past first base.

The Golden Gophers tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, drawing three walks and getting a hit batter in the inning to end a stretch of six consecutive scoreless innings from the St. Olaf pitching staff. Caden Capomaccio and Noah DeLuga combined to throw 4.0 shutout innings out of the Minnesota bullpen.

The Oles head to Wartburg College for a three-game set this weekend, starting with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, March 16.