WAVERLY, Iowa – The St. Olaf College baseball team picked up an 8-4 victory in game one before Wartburg College claimed a 4-3 win in walk-off fashion in game two, as the two teams split their non-conference doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at Harms Stadium at Hertel Field.

St. Olaf (5-3) capitalized on four errors by Wartburg (6-5) and got a four-hit game from sophomore Cole Pleimann to take the opener. In game two, junior Kevin Steel and Emerson Alberhasky both threw 7.0 shutout innings to keep the game scoreless until the teams exchanged three-run innings in the bottom of the eighth and top of the ninth. The Knights salvaged the split on a walk-off double by Gehrig Turner after the Oles rallied from 3-0 down to tie it in the top of the ninth.

After three consecutive weekends in Iowa, St. Olaf will head to Florida for six games at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational from March 20-24. The Oles will match up with Rowan University for the first time in program history on Thursday, March 20 at noon CT in Winter Haven.

St. Olaf 8, Wartburg 4 | Box Score

St. Olaf took advantage of four Wartburg errors to score six unearned runs and got six innings out of senior Jacob Fickenscher to take game one. Fickenscher won his third consecutive start to begin the season after striking out seven with no walks while allowing four runs on eight hits in 6.0 innings before sophomore Kieran Haaland worked a 1-2-3 seventh.

Pleimann had the first four-hit game of his career by going 4-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored, and two RBI. Juniors Breckin Hadley and Christopher Woodside had two hits apiece, with Hadley scoring a run and driving in another, while senior Matthew Kulesa scored three runs.

After St. Olaf left the bases loaded in the top of the first, Wartburg took advantage of a leadoff triple in the bottom of the inning to score the game's first run. The Oles knotted the game at 1-1 in the top of the third when junior Frank Lavin singled in Pleimann, who led off with a single before an error and a sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position for Lavin.

St. Olaf broke the tie and took the lead for good in the top of the fourth, as four consecutive Oles reached base after the first two batters of the frame were retired. After an error prolonged the inning, Pleimann, Hadley, and Woodside strung together three singles in a row, with Woodside's single getting by the right fielder and allowing two runs to score after Hadley's RBI single.

Wartburg got single runs with two outs in the fourth and fifth to get within a run at 4-3. After the teams traded runs in the sixth to keep the Oles up by one, St. Olaf tallied three runs on just one hit in the top of the seventh to open up a four-run cushion for Haaland. With runners on first and second and two outs, Kulesa reached on an error to allow the first run to score. Pleimann followed by lining a two-run triple down the left-field line with the left fielder playing well into the left-center gap due to the wind blowing across to right.

Wartburg 4, St. Olaf 3 | Box Score

Steel and Alberhasky both struck out nine over seven shutout innings to keep the game scoreless until the final frames. After Wartburg scored three times in the bottom of the eighth, St. Olaf responded with three in the top of the ninth, only for the Knights to end it with a run in the home half of the inning.

Steel recorded a career-high nine strikeout while holding Wartburg to two hits and two walks over his 7.0 innings of work in the no-decision. Alberhasky also had nine strikeouts while limiting the Oles to four hits and one walk but also had to settle for a no-decision.

St. Olaf out-hit Wartburg by an 8-3 margin in the game but committed three errors in the bottom of the eighth. Kulesa and Hadley picked up two hits apiece for the Oles, while senior Jack Alley drove in two of St. Olaf's three runs.

The only two hits Steel gave up were a leadoff single in the second and a two-out single in the sixth, as the junior allowed just four baserunners over his 7.0 innings of work. St. Olaf was 90 feet away from opening the scoring in the top of the fifth thanks to a leadoff triple from senior Evan Hammonds, but Alberhasky got a pair of strikeouts and a lineout to short to leave Hammonds at third.

Wartburg scored three runs without a hit in the bottom of the eighth to take a 3-0 lead with three outs remaining, but St. Olaf responded in the top of the ninth with three runs of its own. Singles by Hadley and junior Frank Lavin put runners on the corners with one out for Hammonds, who reached on an error that allowed Hadley to score and left two on base. After a hit batter, Alley tied the game with a two-run single, but the Oles left the bases loaded in the inning before Wartburg got a leadoff walk and a one-out double in the bottom of the ninth to walk off with the win.