COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Host Saint John's University scored in 11 of its 14 innings at the plate to down the St. Olaf College baseball team by scores of 7-2 and 10-3 in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) action on Wednesday at Becker Park.

Saint John's (22-13, 13-5 MIAC) maintained its spot in the top three in the MIAC standings and improved to 13-2 at home this season with the two victories over St. Olaf (13-15, 8-7 MIAC), which had won six of its last seven conference games.

First year Mason Buck was a bright spot offensively for the Oles, registering two hits in both games while going 4-for-7 on the day. Buck has gone 7-for-12 at the plate over the last three games to raise his batting average nearly 100 points.

St. Olaf visits MIAC-leading Gustavus Adolphus College for a doubleheader on Saturday, May 6 starting at 1 p.m. before hosting Augsburg University the next day at 1 p.m. to finish its suspended game.

Saint John's 7, St. Olaf 2 | Box Score

Saint John's scored in each of the first four innings to build a 6-0 cushion on its way to taking game one. Connor Hartley and Jack Haring – who had combined to give up just one unearned run since March 8 entering the game – combined to pitch the Johnnies to the win.

Buck and fellow first year Brendan Goldman were both 2-for-3 with a run scored in the loss and combined for four of St. Olaf's eight hits in the game. Sophomore Matthew Kulesa and junior Sam Lavin had RBI singles in the game, with Lavin extending his hitting streak to 16 games with his in the seventh inning.

The Johnnies loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the first, but junior Derek Hansen limited the damage to one run on an infield single. Saint John's had two runners in scoring position with one out in the second but only managed one run to double its lead to 2-0.

The hosts took advantage of an error to add another run to their lead in the third before scoring three times in the fourth to break the game open. Trailing 6-0, St. Olaf got on the board in the top of the fifth when Kulesa singled in Buck, who led off the inning with an infield hit, got to second on a single by senior Harald Borg, and advanced to third on a line out to right.

Rodney Erickson capped his three-hit game out of the nine hole for Saint John's with a leadoff home run in the sixth to add to the Johnnies' lead. Goldman and Buck started the seventh with back-to-back hits, which eventually led to a run when Lavin beat out an infield hit with the bases loaded and two outs.

Saint John's 10, St. Olaf 3 | Box Score

Erickson followed up his three-hit game by going 4-for-4 for Saint John's, which scored one or two runs in six of its eight innings at the plate. Jackson Peter, Jack Schleper, and Zach Selchow all hit solo home runs for the Johnnies.

Buck added two more hits and drove in a run for St. Olaf, which got a pair of hits from sophomore Evan Hammonds and a pinch-hit RBI double from Jack Pettit in the loss. Lavin kept his hitting streak intact with an infield single in the fifth.

Junior Brock Brumley struck out a career-high five batters over 3.1 innings of relief work, while sophomore Ethan Beltrand threw a scoreless inning in his first collegiate appearance.

Saint John's scored twice in the first, twice in the second, and once in the third to take a 5-0 lead before St. Olaf got on the board in the fourth. After loading the bases with nobody out, the Oles got a run on a double-play grounder and Buck followed with a run-scoring double to left center for the second run of the inning.

The Johnnies stretched their lead to 10-2 thanks, in part, to the three solo home runs. In the top of the ninth, Goldman led off with a double to left and later scored the final run of the game on Pettit's pinch-hit double to right center.