DAVENPORT, Fla. – In its first games in nearly three weeks, the St. Olaf College baseball team split its doubleheader with first-time opponent St. Lawrence University on Thursday at Northeast Regional Park.

In the opener, St. Olaf (3-2) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first half inning and went on to claim a 7-1 victory, as first year Cade Mutscher collected his first collegiate victory. In game two, three St. Lawrence (5-4) pitchers limited the Oles to two hits and the Saints used three two-run innings to salvage a split with a 6-1 win. The games were St. Olaf's first since March 5 after its three-game series against Wartburg College slated for March 18-19 was postponed due to weather.

St. Olaf plays a twin bill against Colby College on Friday, March 24 back at Northeast Regional Park. First pitch in game one is set for 8 a.m. CDT. Both games will be seven innings in length.

St. Olaf 7, St. Lawrence 1 | Box Score

To start the day, St. Olaf surged out to a 3-0 lead with a four-hit first inning and pulled away over the final three frames for a 7-1 victory. Sophomore Evan Hammonds led the way offensively by going 3-for-5 with two runs and one RBI, while junior Sam Lavin was 2-for-4 with a walk, two doubles, one run, and two RBI.

Mutscher picked up the first win of his collegiate career by limiting St. Lawrence to one run on two hits with four walks and four strikeouts over four innings of work. Junior Brock Brumley collected the first save of his collegiate career by allowing just one hit over the final three frames while striking out two.

The Oles wasted little time jumping in front, scoring three times on four hits in the top of the first. After Hammonds led off the game with a single and stole second with one out, Lavin brought him in with a double to left center. Two batters later, first year Breckin Hadley plated Lavin with a run-scoring single. Sophomore Jack Alley followed with an infield hit to score the third run of the frame.

The Saints got their lone run of the game in the bottom of the second to make it a two-run margin before the Oles scored in each of their final three innings at the plate to pull away for the six-run victory. Junior Joey Glampe drove in a run with a ground out in the fifth to score first year Frank Lavin, who doubled to lead off the inning.

Sam Lavin knocked in his second run of the game with a one-out double in the sixth. In the seventh, four-straight Oles reached after the first two batters of the inning were retired, as St. Olaf scored once on a balk and again on an RBI single by Hammonds.

St. Lawrence 6, St. Olaf 1 | Box Score

Christian Mingione held St. Olaf without a hit until the sixth inning to pitch the Saints to the win in game two. He combined with two relievers to allow just two hits in the game, as St. Lawrence broke open a scoreless game with two runs in the fourth and scored twice in both the sixth and seventh innings.

Mingione did not allow a hit until Sam Lavin led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple with the Saints leading 4-0. The only other hit for St. Olaf was a Glampe single to start the final half inning. Sophomore Matthew Oberlander took the loss after allowing four runs on five hits in 5.1 innings with two walks and three strikeouts. Sophomore Chris Blum threw the final 1.2 innings for the Oles, yielding two unearned runs on two hits.

St. Lawrence broke the deadlock with two runs on just one hit in the top of the fourth and tacked on two runs in the sixth to stretch its lead to 4-0. After the Oles got on the board in the home half of the sixth, the Saints stretched their lead to five with two more runs in the next half inning.