NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team was swept by visiting Saint John's University by scores of 14-6 and 4-3 in its long-awaited home opener on Saturday afternoon at Mark Almli Field.

In the opener, Saint John's (15-13, 7-3 MIAC) slugged four home runs and got 6.1 innings from started Kody Dalen on its way to a 14-6 victory. St. Olaf (8-10, 2-4 MIAC) got a three-run home run from sophomore Sam Lavin in the seventh inning of game two to get within a run, but the Johnnies held on late to complete the sweep.

After a day off on Sunday, the Oles are right back at it on Monday, April 18 when Macalester visits Mark Almli Field for doubleheader starting at 2:30 p.m.

Saint John's 14, St. Olaf 6 | Box Score

Ethan Roe hit two of Saint John's four home runs and Max Nyrop and Owen Dauk also homered to power the Johnnies to a 14-6 win in game one. Roe hit a three-run home run in the third and a solo shot in the sixth to drive in a team-high four runs.

Dauk hit a three-run home run in the sixth and reached base in all five of his plate appearances, going 3-for-3 with two walks, three RBI, and four runs scored. Nyrop was 3-for-4 with a walk, two RBI, and three runs scored.

Sophomore Brian Nevin and first year Evan Hammonds were both 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored for St. Olaf in the loss.

Early home runs by Nyrop and Roe helped Saint John's to a 6-0 lead in the third before sophomore Evan Clark got the Oles on the board with a two-run single after coming to bat with the bases loaded and two outs in the home half of the third.

The Johnnies stretched their lead to 14-2 after six with three more multi-run innings in the fourth, fifth, and sixth. St. Olaf plated four runs on just one hit in its final at bat in the seventh, taking advantage of two walks, an error, and five wild pitches in the inning.

Dalen earned the win for Saint John's after allowing just two earned runs (six runs total) on seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts over his 6.1 innings of work. Lavin suffered his first loss of the season for the Oles after yielding six runs over the first three innings. Four other pitchers combined to throw the final four frames for St. Olaf.

St. Olaf 4, Saint John's 3 | Box Score

Saint John's scored three runs in the first inning and another in the third to take an early lead in game two before St. Olaf shut the Johnnies' offense down the rest of the way. The Oles were held scoreless by SJU starter Griffin Larson until Lavin's three-run blast in the seventh and got the tying run into scoring position in each of the final three innings, but could not push the run across to tie the game.

The Johnnies jumped on senior Sam Westermeyer in the first inning, scoring three runs on five hits to get out to a quick 3-0 lead. Saint John's added the eventual game-winning run – an unearned run – on a sacrifice fly off the back of Rodney Erickson to go ahead 4-0.

Larson struck out nine and allowed just one hit over the first five-plus innings, pitching around six walks, a hit batter, and two balks, before exiting the game after walking the first two batters of the sixth.

St. Olaf finally broke through in the seventh when Hammonds drew a one-out walk and Nevin followed with a single to put two runners on for Lavin, who drove a 2-2 pitch over the fence in right-center field for his second home run of the season to make it a one-run game.

Glampe followed Lavin's home run with a double off the baes of the wall in left center to put the tying run in scoring position but was left at third. In the eighth, first year Matthew Kulesa drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior Harald Borg, but was stranded at second.

Still trailing by a run in its final at bat, St. Olaf put two runners on base with two outs in the ninth, as Nevin was hit by a pitch to start the frame and senior Andrew Nomoto lined a two-out single to center, but Casey Trapp got the final batter to close out the save for Saint John's.

Westermeyer took the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits with no walks and six strikeouts over his six innings on the mound. Sophomore Derek Hansen threw his third-straight scoreless outing by pitching scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth. Fellow sophomore Will Wamre tossed a scoreless ninth.