WAVERLY, Iowa – The St. Olaf College baseball team bounced back from a 6-1 loss in game one with an 8-6 victory in game two of its road doubleheader against Wartburg College on Saturday at Harms Stadium at Hertel Field.

After being outhit 10-4 by Wartburg (9-3) in game one, St. Olaf (5-6) outhit the Knights by a 13-6 margin in game two, as sophomore Kevin Steel and first year Kieran Haaland pitched the Oles to the split. The game-two victory marked the third time in as many doubleheaders this season that St. Olaf won the second game after losing the opener.

The Oles will head to the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational for six games from March 21-27, beginning with a single game against Worcester State University on Thursday, March 21 at 1 p.m. CT. St. Olaf and Wartburg were scheduled to play a third game on Sunday, March 17, but that game was called off due to the forecast for cold temperatures and strong wind.

Wartburg 6, St. Olaf 1 | Box Score

Cael Boehmer took a no-hitter into the seventh inning while pitching Wartburg to the win in the opener. Boehmer limited St. Olaf to one run on two hits with no walks and five strikeouts over his 6.2 innings of work before two relievers finished off the victory for the Knights.

Zach Walton staked Boehmer to an early lead with a three-run home run in the first inning for Wartburg. The top-three hitters in the Knights' lineup combined to go 6-for-13 with two doubles, two walks, four stolen bases, four RBI, and five runs scored.

Senior Joey Glampe had two of St. Olaf's four hits in the loss, including a run-scoring double in the seventh that produced the Oles' lone run of the game. Sophomores Brendan Goldman and Christopher Woodside had the other hits.

Senior Sam Lavin struck out eight batters for the second time in three starts this season but took the loss after yielding five runs (four earned) on eight hits with four walks over the first five innings. Junior Jacob Fickenscher threw the final three innings, allowing an unearned run on two hits with one walk and one strikeout.

The Knights jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first when Walton drove a three-run home run the opposite way with the wind blowing out to right after the first two batters of the game reached. Wartburg added another run in the second on a two-out RBI double off the bat of Eliot Jurgensen before tacking on single runs in the fifth and sixth to open up a 6-0 lead.

Goldman broke up Boehmer's no-hit bid in the top of the seventh with a one-out single through the right side. After stealing second, Goldman got to third on a two-out wild pitch before coming in to score on Glampe's double to left center. Before Goldman's single, St. Olaf's only baserunner was sophomore Frank Lavin, who got on via an error with two outs in the sixth.

With the Oles down by five, Glampe followed a two-out, pinch-hit single by Woodside with a single before Wartburg got the final out.

St. Olaf 8, Wartburg 6 | Box Score

After Wartburg scored five times in the fourth inning to take a 6-4 lead, St. Olaf held the hosts scoreless over the final five frames and scored the game's final four runs to gain a split. Steel and Haaland combined to limit the Knights to six hits in the game.

Steel improved to 2-0 on the season after holding Wartburg to two earned runs (six runs total) on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts over the first five innings. Haaland gave up just two hits over four scoreless frames to collect his first collegiate save. Through the first five appearances of his collegiate career, Haaland has allowed just one run on six hits for a 0.82 ERA.

Offensively, sophomore Mason Buck and first year Cole Pleimann had three hits apiece for St. Olaf. Pleimann registered the first three-hit game of his collegiate career, which included the game-tying two-run double in the fifth. Buck was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and drove in the go-ahead run with an infield hit in the sixth.

After Wartburg got a run in the bottom of the first, St. Olaf took a 2-1 lead in the third when Woodside plated two runs with a double to left. Frank Lavin and junior Evan Hammonds got on base via a hit-by-pitch and a single before Sam Lavin advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt to set the stage for Woodside.

The Oles added to their lead in the fourth on a two-out, two-run single by Hammonds, who lined the first pitch up the middle after coming to bat with runners on second and third and two outs. The Knights responded in the home half of the inning, however, benefitting from two St. Olaf errors to score five runs on three hits to take a 6-4 lead.

It didn't take long for St. Olaf to answer, as the Oles tied the game at 6-6 in the next half inning on Pleimann's two-run double to the gap in right center. The two-bagger came after Glampe was hit by a pitch with one out and Buck followed with a single to put two on for Pleimann.

St. Olaf took the lead for good in the sixth on a swinging bunt off the bat of Buck that brought in sophomore Breckin Hadley, who singled to put two runners on after Sam Lavin led off the inning with a single. Goldman moved up both runners with a sacrifice bunt before Wartburg got the second out of the inning at the plate on a fielder's choice.

After retiring the first five batters he faced, Haaland stranded the potential game-tying run on second with his lone strikeout of the afternoon in the seventh. The first year pitched around a two-out single in the eighth before St. Olaf scratched across an insurance run in the ninth on a bases-loaded walk to junior Matthew Oberlander. Haaland set the top of the Knights' lineup down in order in the ninth to seal the save.