INDEPENDENCE, Iowa – Junior Frank Lavin drove in six runs on the day, as the St. Olaf College baseball team split the first two games of its four-game series against Luther College on Saturday at Independence High School.

Lavin knocked in three runs in each game, as St. Olaf (3-1) won the opener by a 9-2 score before Luther (1-6) gained a split with an 8-7 victory in game two. Lavin was one of three Oles to homer on the day, as the two teams came away with a split of their first of back-to-back doubleheaders.

The Oles and Norse will start their twin bill on Sunday, March 9 at 12:30 p.m. at Independence High School.

St. Olaf 9, Luther 2 | Box Score

Senior Matthew Kulesa and Lavin combined for six hits, four runs scored, and five RBI to lead St. Olaf to a 9-2 victory in the opening game of the four-game set. The Oles broke a 1-1 tie by scoring eight runs over their final three innings at the plate in the seven-inning game.

Kulesa went 3-for-4 with a home run, three runs scored, and two RBI, while Lavin was 3-for-3 with a walk, a double, a run scored, and three RBI. Junior Breckin Hadley reached base all four times with two walks, two hits, and two RBI, while classmate Mason Buck had a pair of hits, a walk, one RBI, and scored twice. That quartet combined for all 10 of St. Olaf's hits in the win.

After being named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Pitcher of the Week and being selected to the D3baseball.com Team of the Week last week, senior Jacob Fickenscher limited Luther to two runs on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts over 6.0 innings to move to 2-0 on the season. Sophomore Kieran Haaland pitched around two walks and a hit to leave the bases loaded in a scoreless seventh inning.

St. Olaf took advantage of two passed balls in the top of the first to put a run on the board on a two-out ground out by sophomore Cole Pleimann. The score remained 1-0 until Luther got back-to-back two-out hits to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth.

The Oles responded right away in the top of the fifth, scoring three times after starting the inning with back-to-back bunt singles by Buck and Lavin. After a sacrifice moved up both runners, Kulesa singled in Buck and Hadley followed with a double to score two more and give St. Olaf a 4-1 lead.

After the teams traded runs in the sixth, the Oles opened up a 9-2 lead with a four-run top of the seventh. Kulesa led off the inning with a solo shot to center for his first home run since his sophomore campaign. Later in the inning, Buck drew a bases-loaded walk and Lavin followed with a two-run single.

Luther 8, St. Olaf 7 | Box Score

After Luther scored four runs in the first, St. Olaf fought back to take a 6-5 lead in the fifth inning, but the Norse came away with a one-run win to finish the day after scoring twice in the sixth and again in the eighth.

Pleimann and Lavin both went deep for the Oles, with Lavin going 2-for-3 with a home run, two walks, two runs scored, and three RBI to cap a six-RBI day. Pleimann and junior Christopher Woodside also had two hits in the loss.

After yielding four runs in the first, junior Kevin Steel settled in to give St. Olaf a seven-inning start. Steel struck out four while giving up seven runs (four earned) on 11 hits over his 7.0 innings of work in a no-decision. Senior Matthew Oberlander struck out a pair in the eighth but took the loss after Luther got the deciding run in the bottom of the eighth.

The first five batters of the game for the Norse all tallied hits to get Luther out to a 4-0 lead after one inning, but St. Olaf quickly got three of the runs back in the next half inning. After Pleimann was hit by a pitch and Woodside singled, Lavin hit an opposite-field, three-run home run to right to cut the Norse lead to 4-3. The Oles tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the third on a passed ball.

Senior Jack Alley gave St. Olaf a 5-4 lead in the fourth with a sacrifice fly after junior Calvin Keesler started the inning with a double and moved up to third on a ground out. After Luther tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the fourth, Pleimann hit a two-out, solo home run to right to put the Oles back on top in the top of the fifth.

With the Oles trailing 7-6 in the eighth, Alley delivered a two-out, run-scoring single to tie the game once again, but St. Olaf left the bases loaded in the inning. The Norse plated the game's final run on a two-out double in the bottom of the eighth. The Oles threatened in the top of the ninth with runners on first and second and two outs but could not push across a tying run.