TUCSON, Ariz. – The St. Olaf College baseball team held a 5-0 lead before Concordia University Wisconsin rallied for a 7-6 walk-off victory on Sunday afternoon at Kino Sports Complex.

St. Olaf (2-1) built a 5-0 lead in the fourth inning before Concordia (2-1) fought back to take a 6-5 lead in the seventh inning. Sophomore Brendan Goldman delivered a game-tying RBI single in the top of the eight, but the Falcons pushed across the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth to hand the Oles their first loss of the young season.

Senior Sam Lavin was 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI to lead the way offensively for St. Olaf. Junior Evan Hammonds and sophomore Mason Buck both had three-hit performances as well. Hammonds was 3-for-4 with a walk, a run scored, an RBI, and a stolen base, while Buck was 3-for-4 with a double and three runs scored.

In his first start in one day short of a year, junior Jacob Fickenscher struck out two over two scoreless innings as one of five pitchers to work in the game for St. Olaf. Junior David Scheil threw a team-high 3.0 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) with three strikeouts.

The Oles jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, highlighted by a two-run home run down the right-field line off the bat of Lavin for his first home run of the season. Later in the inning, senior Joey Glampe knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly to cap the three-run frame.

Back-to-back extra-base hits from Buck and Hammonds in the second stretched St. Olaf's lead to 4-0 as Hammonds followed Buck's triple with a run-scoring double. Lavin drove in his third run of the game with a two-out RBI single that scored Buck in the fourth and made it a 5-0 game.

Concordia Wisconsin responded with four runs in the next half inning to make it a one-run game before adding two more in the seventh to grab a 6-5 lead. With runners on first and third and one out in the eighth, Goldman delivered a game-tying RBI single to right to tie the game at 6-6. The Oles threatened to take the lead with two runners on and still only one out, but sophomore Breckin Hadley lined into an inning-ending double play.

Senior Sean Goldman pitched around three walks in the eighth inning to keep the game tied at 6-6, but the Falcons pushed across the game-winning run in the home half of the ninth. After the first two batters of the inning reached on a single and an error, a fly out to right moved the game-winning run to third before another fly ball to right brought in the winning run.

St. Olaf outhit Concordia Wisconsin by a 14-7 margin in the game but left 11 runners on base. Four relievers combined to throw five innings of one-run ball for the Falcons in the win.

The Oles close out their four-game stint in Arizona against Carthage College on Monday, March 4 at 10:30 a.m. CT.