NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Concordia-Moorhead scored eight runs over the final three innings to win game one, 8-1, and claim a berth in next week's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs before the St. Olaf College baseball team closed its season with a 10-8 victory in game two on Sunday at Mark Almli Field.

Concordia (17-18) entered the day with a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three play-in series after an 8-6 win in Moorhead on Saturday and used a late offensive outburst to win the series after the first game of the day. Before the season, it was determined that all three games of the series would be played and St. Olaf (13-9) went on to grab the final game thanks in part to a grand slam by senior Eli Tan.

The games were the final contests in the careers of St. Olaf's eight graduating seniors: TJ Rogers, Bobby Isbell, Tan, Travis McDonald, Jac Childs, Tanner McDonald, Cole Quiram, and Doug Byers. The class helped the Oles to a 73-70 record over their careers and a 2019 MIAC Playoff appearance.

Concordia-Moorhead 8, St. Olaf 1 | Box Score

Ashwin Stratton and Hunter Barber both put up zeroes through the first six innings before each team plated a run in the seventh. The Cobbers broke the 1-1 tie with two runs in the eighth and five more in the ninth to run away with the game-one victory and the series.

Concordia broke the deadlock in the top of the seventh when Dawson Leer followed Justin Kloster ground-rule double with a single to right to score the game's first run. St. Olaf responded in the next half inning, tying the game on a two-out RBI single through the right side by Joey Glampe to bring in Harald Borg who had singled to start the frame.

After coming to bat with two on and two out in the top of the eighth, Ben Swanson came up with the go-ahead RBI single and another run scored on an error on the play to give the Cobbers a 3-1 lead. The visitors went on to tack on five runs on five hits in the ninth.

Barber allowed just three hits through the first six innings but was eventually saddled with the loss after giving up six runs (five earned) on 10 hits with two walks and eight strikeouts in 8.2 innings of work. Luke Levasseur earned the win for Concordia with 2.1 innings of shutout relief of Stratton.

Rogers and Sam Lavin had two hits apiece for St. Olaf, which left 11 runners on base in the loss.

St. Olaf 10, Concordia-Moorhead 8 | Box Score

Tan delivered a third-inning grand slam for his first collegiate home run to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 7-4 lead in game two. Tan was one of five Oles with two-hit games as St. Olaf led the rest of the way after his grand slam.

Matthew Muller was 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs, while Bobby Isbell was 2-for-5 with a triple, two runs, two RBI, and a pair of highlight-reel defensive plays at second base.

St. Olaf took an early 1-0 lead in the first before Concordia pushed across three runs in the second. Isbell provided an RBI triple in the bottom of the second and came around to score on a throwing error on the play to knot the game at 3-3.

The Cobbers went back ahead with a run in the top of the third before Tan's blast gave the Oles the lead for good. Tan's grand slam came on the first pitch of his at bat after singles by Muller and Glampe on either side of a walk to Andrew Nomoto filled the bases to start the inning.

A run-scoring single by Isbell in the fifth extended St. Olaf's lead to 8-4, but Concordia made it a one-run game with three runs in the seventh. Harald Borg and McDonald drove in runs with singles in the seventh and eighth to give the Oles two insurance runs.

With a three-run lead, Derek Hansen picked up his first collegiate save by getting the final three outs, allowing one unearned run in the frame.