COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team completed its best regular-season run through the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in 22 years by splitting two one-run games against Saint John's University on Saturday afternoon at Becker Park.

Junior Jacob Fickenscher and senior Brock Brumley pitched St. Olaf (27-12, 17-3 MIAC) to a 2-1 victory in game one before Saint John's (24-14, 13-7 MIAC) scored two runs in the seventh inning to grab a 5-4 win in game two. The Oles' 17-3 record in conference play is their best since also going 17-3 in 2002 and is the program's joint third-best mark in MIAC play, trailing 18-2 finishes in both 2000 and 2001.

Both teams had already secured spots in next week's four-team MIAC Playoffs entering the twin bill. The Oles will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament after winning their 18th MIAC regular-season title, while the Johnnies' seed is yet to be determined. Saint John's is level with Bethel University with 13-7 records with no games remaining. Those two teams trail Saint Mary's University (12-6) by one game in the loss column, with the Cardinals still having a doubleheader against Concordia-Moorhead on the schedule on Monday, May 6.

St. Olaf will open the MIAC Playoffs in a 2:30 p.m. game against the No. 4 seed on Thursday, May 9 at CHS Field in St. Paul.

St. Olaf 2, Saint John's 1 | Box Score

Fickenscher and Brumley pitched St. Olaf to a win in a pitchers' duel in the opening, scattering nine Saint John's hits to hold the Johnnies to a season-low-tying one run. Junior Matthew Oberlander and senior Joey Glampe provided run-scoring hits for the Oles offensively.

Fickenscher improved to 3-3 on the season after limiting Saint John's to one run on eight hits in a season-high 6.0 innings of work, walking out and striking out four. The Johnnies put two runners on with two outs against Brumley in the seventh before the senior slammed the door to extend his single-season program record with a seventh save of the season.

Six Oles had one hit apiece in the victory, including Oberlander and Glampe's run-scoring hits in the fifth and sixth innings. Connor Hartley took the hard-luck loss for Saint John's despite allowing just two runs on six hits with no walks and four strikeouts while needing just 61 pitches to get through 6.0 innings.

The Johnnies started the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles and a double steal to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out, but Fickenscher got three consecutive pop ups to get out of the inning unscathed. St. Olaf's best scoring threat of the early innings came in the top of the fourth, when junior Matthew Kulesa reached on a two-base error to start the inning but was left at third.

The Oles broke through in the top of the fifth with three of their six hits in the game. Sophomore Breckin Hadley led off the inning with a single and got to second on a bunt single by classmate Mason Buck. After a fielder's choice left runners on the corners with one out, Oberlander lined a single to right center for the first run of the game.

Saint John's got the run back in the next half inning but could only manage one run on four hits in the inning while leaving the bases loaded. St. Olaf got the game-winning run in the top of the sixth when senior Sam Lavin hit a one-out single and scored from first on Glampe's double down the left-field line. The Johnnies put two runners on with two outs in both the sixth and seventh innings but could not capitalize.

Saint John's 5, St. Olaf 4 | Box Score

St. Olaf scored in three consecutive innings to take a 4-3 lead in game two and held onto that advantage until Saint John's plated two runs in the decisive bottom of the seventh. The Oles outhit the Johnnies by an 11-8 margin in the game and committed just one error compared to four for the hosts.

Sophomore Breckin Hadley extended his hitting streak to five games in his return from an injury by going 3-for-4 with a walk, a double, a run scored, and three RBI for St. Olaf. First year Cole Pleimann added his fifth three-hit game of the season by going 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. Kulesa got on base three times with a pair of singles and a hit-by-pitch.

After Saint John's scored three runs in the first two innings off Oberlander, first year Carter Follman turned in the longest relief outing of his young career, limiting the Johnnies to one hit and three walks with a season-high four strikeouts over 4.0 innings of work. First year Sam Hruska threw a scoreless eighth inning after Saint John's took the lead with two runs off first year Nick Levasseur in the seventh.

The Johnnies jumped on Oberlander with two runs on three hits in the bottom of the first, but the Oles responded with two runs of their own in the next half inning. Pleimann started the inning with an infield single and Hadley followed with a first-pitch RBI double to the gap in left center. Two batters later, senior Brian Nevin drove in the second run of the inning while reaching on a throwing error.

Saint John's got a two-out RBI double from Owen Dauk in the bottom of the second to quickly reclaim the lead at 3-2. St. Olaf made it four half innings in a row with a run for the two teams in the top of the third, scoring on an RBI single by Hadley after Pleimann's one-out double. The Oles had the bases loaded with one out later in the inning but could not break the 3-3 tie.

In the fourth, St. Olaf took its first lead of the game with a four-hit inning. Kulesa and Lavin started the inning with back-to-back singles before Pleimann filled the bases with one out with his third hit of the game. Hadley broke the tie with an RBI single to right for his third hit of the game. Hadley's single kept the bases loaded with one out, but the Oles left the bases filled for the second inning in a row.

Saint John's took the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh with two hits and a walk in the frame. Three Johnnie relievers combined to hold St. Olaf to one hit and one walk with seven strikeouts over the final 5.0 innings.