NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team clinched a playoff spot with a seven-run eighth inning in a 9-8 game-two victory over Carleton College after winning game one, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon at Mark Almli Field.

To begin the day, St. Olaf (22-14, 13-7 MIAC) knew two wins would secure a spot in the four-team Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs and got a five-hit shutout from senior Jacob Fickenscher in a 3-0 victor to start the day. Carleton (11-21, 5-15 MIAC) surged out to a 7-1 lead early in game two and was up 7-2 before the Oles rallied with the seven-run eighth to grab a playoff spot.

St. Olaf will be the No. 4 seed in the four-team field next week and will open the tournament against the No. 1 seed – either Gustavus Adolphus College or Bethel University – at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 8 at Becker Park in Collegeville. Bethel must sweep Saint Mary's University on Sunday, May 4 to land the No. 1 seed.

Between the two games, St. Olaf, which has won 12 of the last 14 games against Carleton, celebrated its senior class of Evan Hammonds, David Scheil, Matthew Kulesa, Jacob Fickenscher, Ian Enyeart, Matthew Oberlander, Jack Alley, Chris Blum, Luke Crawshaw, Peter Bambakidis, and student coach Henry Gliedman on the class's Senior Day.

St. Olaf 3, Carleton 0 | Box Score

Fickenscher limited Carleton to five hits and one walk with six strikeouts in his second shutout of the season to run his record to 7-2 in 10 starts. St. Olaf got all three of its runs in the top of the first before Carleton's Will Schnepf settled in and held the Oles to one hit after the first inning.

After Fickenscher retired the Knights in order to start the game, Kulesa led off with a single and stole second before junior Mason Buck drew a walk to put two on with nobody out in the bottom of the first. Junior Breckin Hadley dropped down a sacrifice bunt that Schnepf tried to get the lead runner on but committed a throwing error to third, allowing Kulesa to score. Three batters later, junior Frank Lavin dumped a two-out, two-run single to right field to score Hadley and Buck.

Carleton threatened to cut into its deficit in the top of the third with the bases loaded and one out, but Fickenscher escaped unscathed by getting an infield fly and a groundout to end the inning. Fickenscher retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced over the final three frames.

St. Olaf 9, Carleton 8 | Box Score

Carleton jumped out to a 7-1 lead with three runs in the second and four in the fourth, but St. Olaf rallied late against the Knights' bullpen in the eighth to claim the come-from-behind win. Junior Jack Pettit and first year Josiah Utsch combined to throw 7.0 innings of two-run relief for the Oles.

Utsch picked up the first win of his collegiate career after allowing one run on two hits with one walk and two strikeouts over the final 2.0 innings. Pettit, who is primarily a position player, scattered eight hits while limiting Carleton to one run over a career-high 5.0 innings of work with no walks and one strikeout.

The Knights outhit the Oles by a 16-10 margin in the game but were unable to extend their early lead before St. Olaf's late comeback. Buck was one of four Oles with two-hit games, going 2-for-5 with a run scored and three RBI.

Carleton got a two-run home run from Nathan Barnhart in the second and two doubles and a triple in a four-run third to open up a 7-1 cushion. Buck knocked in a run with a fielder's choice in the fifth, but the Knights still led 7-2 heading into the home half of the eighth, with Pettit keeping the Oles within striking distance.

In the eighth, sophomore Cole Pleimann and Alley singled give St. Olaf runners at the corners with nobody out for Lavin, who singled through the left side to make it 7-3. Later in the inning, the Oles had the bases loaded before a hit batter and a walk plated two more runs. After a pitching change with the bases still full, Buck lined a 1-1 pitch to right to score two and tie the game at 7-7. Hadley followed with a sacrifice fly to center to give the Oles the lead before Pleimann doubled to right to score Buck for what proved to be the game-winning run.

After Carleton got its first two batters on in the top of the ninth, Utsch got a 4-6 3 double play to get St. Olaf within one out of the win. The Knights got an RBI single from Ananth Iyer to get within a run before Jack Hommeyer singled off the glove of Pleimann at third to get the tying run into scoring position, but Utsch got pinch-hitter Reece Wellsandt to ground out to Buck at shortstop for the final out.