ST. PAUL, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team matched its best 11-game start to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play in the last 40 seasons with 16-8 and 6-4 road victories over Macalester College on Sunday afternoon at Nicholson Field.

In a matchup between teams at opposite ends of the conference standings, last-place Macalester (7-24, 2-12 MIAC) held a 7-2 lead in game one before St. Olaf (20-9, 10-1 MIAC) exploded for 13 runs in the fourth and fifth innings on its way to the 16-8 win. Game two was the opposite story, as the Scots fought back from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game at 4-4 in the middle innings, but the Oles scored twice in the ninth to complete the sweep.

St. Olaf's 10-1 start is its second-best start to MIAC play and equaled its best start to conference play since going 11-0 during a 12-0 start in 1984. This year mars the sixth time the Oles have started 10-1 since 1990, doing so in 1990, 1991, 1997, 2000, and 2007.

The Oles will return to Mark Almli Field for a doubleheader against Gustavus Adolphus College on Tuesday, April 23 at 2:30/5 p.m. The next day, St. Olaf will complete its halted game against Bethel University, which the Oles led 15-6 after seven innings on Thursday before it became too dark to continue.

St. Olaf 16, Macalester 8 | Box Score

Macalester scored multiple runs in each of the first three innings to build a 7-2 lead before St. Olaf tallied nine runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to open up a 15-8 lead. After trailing 7-2, the Oles scored 14 of the game's final 15 runs.

Junior Evan Hammonds, senior Sam Lavin, junior Matthew Kulesa, senior Joey Glampe, sophomore Brendan Goldman, and sophomore Christopher Woodside all had multiple hits in the victory. Hammonds fell a triple shy of the cycle by going 3-for-5 with a double, a home run, two runs scored, and three RBI. Lavin added a three-hit game of his own, finishing 3-for-5 with a double, three runs scored, and three RBI. Glampe also reached base three times while going 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, two runs scored, and three RBI.

After Macalester scored runs off the first three St. Olaf pitchers of the game, junior Matthew Oberlander shut out the Scots over the final three innings to collect the second save of his collegiate career. Oberlander gave up four hits and two walks with two strikeouts in his 3.0 shutout innings.

Hammonds sent a 3-2 pitch over the tall chain-link fence in left field for a leadoff home run to give St. Olaf the first run of the day, but Macalester got a two-run home run from Matt Odom in the bottom of the inning to make the Oles' lead a short-lived one. Hammonds' home run was his second of the season.

After the Scots extended their lead to 5-1 with three runs in the second, Woodside and Hammonds started the third with back-to-back doubles to get one run back for the Oles. Hayes Waddell hit Macalester's second home run of the early innings with a two-run shot in the third to make it a 7-2 game.

St. Olaf responded with nine runs on eight hits in the top of the fourth to grab an 11-7 lead. Goldman, Woodside, and Hammonds had consecutive RBI singles to score the first three runs of the inning. After the second out of the frame, Lavin delivered a two-run single to tie it at 7-7 and Glampe followed with a tie-breaking RBI double. First year Cole Pleimann and senior Brian Nevin also knocked in runs with singles in the frame.

Macalester cut its deficit to 11-8 with a run in the bottom of the fourth before St. Olaf took advantage of two errors by the Scots to score four times in the top of the fifth. With the bases loaded and one out, Lavin dropped an RBI single into left field before Glampe singled in two more runs and another run scored on the second error of the inning.

Oberlander got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the fifth, worked around a leadoff walk in the sixth, and left two more Scots in scoring position in the seventh to finish off his first save since his rookie season. Senior Derek Hansen benefited from St. Olaf's fourth-inning outburst to pick up his second win of the season despite allowing two runs in the third.

St. Olaf 6, Macalester 4 | Box Score

Looking for the sweep, St. Olaf opened up a 4-0 lead in the third inning of game two, but Macalester fought back in the middle innings to tie the game at 4-4 after five. The teams remained deadlocked until Kulesa broke the tie with an RBI double to the gap in left center in the Oles' two-run ninth inning.

Woodside, Hammonds, Kulesa, and Goldman all logged their second multi-hit games of the day, while Nevin added a pair of hits. Woodside recorded his second three-hit game of the season by going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Hammonds was 2-for-5 with two runs scored, while Goldman was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.

Junior Jacob Fickenscher received a no-decision after giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits with two walks and a season-high seven strikeouts over the first 5.0 innings. First year Nick Levasseur retired all six batters he faced, including three via strikeout, in the sixth and seventh. Senior Brock Brumley earned his first win of the season and improved to 6-1 as an Ole after tossing scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth. Brumley allowed two hits with one walk and one strikeout while lowering his ERA to 0.81 this season.

Like game one, St. Olaf put a run on the board in the top of the first, scoring on an error on a ground ball off the bat of Glampe, who came to bat with runners on second and third and one out after Hammonds and Kulesa opened the game with infield hits.

The Oles stretched their lead to 4-0 in the top of the third on run-scoring hits by Pleimann and Goldman. After Lavin walked and Glampe was hit by a pitch with one out, Pleimann shot an RBI single to right to score Lavin. Three batters later, Goldman doubled to right with the bases loaded and two outs to bring in two more runs.

Macalester scored twice on a two-out double that was misplayed in right field in the fourth and added two more two-out runs in the fifth to tie the game at 4-4, with the tying run coming in on an obstruction call at home plate on a double steal. Macalester's Ben Levinson and the combination of Levasseur and Brumley kept both offenses in check until St. Olaf got to Levinson and the Scots' bullpen in the ninth.

In the ninth, Woodside chased Levinson with a leadoff double and Hammonds greeted Matt Rade with a second-pitch single to left to put runners on the corners for Kulesa. On a 2-1 count, Kulesa drove a high fastball into the gap in left-center field to score pinch-runner Jack Pettit for the go-ahead run. Lavin gave the Oles an insurance run with a sacrifice fly in the next at bat.

Brumley closed out the win in the bottom of the ninth despite Macalester getting the tying run to the plate twice. The senior erased a leadoff error with a 6-4-3 double play and, after a two-out walk, got a pop out to shortstop for the final out.