NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team locked up an outright Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) regular-season title with a 12-1 victory in game one before Hamline University took game two by a 7-2 margin on Wednesday at Mark Almli Field.

With at least a share of the title already secured, St. Olaf (26-11, 16-2 MIAC) entered the day needing one win or one loss by Saint John's University in the final four games to claim the title outright and got the job done behind a complete game from senior Sam Lavin in the opener against Hamline (15-22, 7-11 MIAC). The Pipers scored runs in three consecutive innings in the middle innings to gain a sweep in game two to hand the Oles just their second MIAC loss of the season and their first loss in 11 home games this spring.

The MIAC regular-season title is the 18th in program history for St. Olaf (1921, 1922, 1925, 1926, 1929, 1949, 1976, 1981 (co), 1984, 1985 (co), 1988, 1989, 1992, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2024) and its first since 2007. Sixteen of the Oles' 18 conference crowns have come outright. The game-one win also clinched the No. 1 seed for St. Olaf in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs.

St. Olaf will close out the regular season with a doubleheader at Saint John's University on Saturday, May 4 at 1 and 3:30 p.m.

St. Olaf 12, Hamline 1 | Box Score

Lavin threw his second complete game of the season to pitch St. Olaf to the game-one victory. The senior limited Hamline to one run on three hits with five walks and nine strikeouts in the 117-pitch complete game while running his record to 6-2.

The Oles led just 1-0 before breaking the game open with four runs in the fourth to start a stretch of scoring 11 runs in the next three innings. Lavin was also 3-for-3 with a walk, a double, a stolen base, a run scored, and two RBI in the opener. Junior Evan Hammonds went 3-for-4 with a walk, two triples, two runs scored, and three RBI, while sophomore Breckin Hadley added a sixth-inning grand slam. Junior Matthew Oberlander also got on three times, going 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI, and three runs scored, as all nine St. Olaf starters had at least one hit.

After striking out the side in the top of the first, Lavin knocked in the game's first run with a single up the middle in the bottom of the first. Hammonds started the inning by drawing a walk and got to second on a wild pitch before junior Matthew Kulesa reached on an infield single to put two on for Lavin.

The score stayed at 1-0 until St. Olaf got to Hamline starter Conor Mestemacher in the fourth by scoring four runs on five hits. With runners on second and third and one out, Oberlander dropped a single into left field to score a run and Hammonds followed with an infield hit to bring in another. After Kulesa walked to fill the bases, Lavin singled in another run and, two batters later, first year Cole Pleimann lined a run-scoring single off Mestemacher to cap the four-run frame.

Hamline got its lone run of the game off Lavin in the top of the fifth on a fielder's choice after using two walks and a bunt single to fill the bases. The bunt single after a leadoff walk broke up Lavin's no-hit bid. The Oles answered in the bottom of the fifth on the first of Hammonds' two triples in the game, which brought in Oberlander from first with two outs.

St. Olaf continued to put runs on the board in the sixth, scoring six times highlighted by Hadley's grand slam. Lavin and senior Joey Glampe started the inning with back-to-back doubles to push the Oles' lead to 6-1 and, after a pair of walks filled the bases, Hadley lined a 3-2 pitch over the fence in right to make it an 11-1 game. For the second time in as many innings, Hammonds tripled in Oberlander later in the frame.

Lavin finished off the complete game by pitching around a pair of doubles to start the seventh, leaving the runners at second and third with nobody out with a ground out and a pair of strikeouts.

Hamline 7, St. Olaf 2 | Box Score

With the game scoreless through three innings, Hamline scored seven runs over the middle innings and kept St. Olaf's bats quiet to end the Oles' 10-game home winning streak. Five Hamline pitchers combined to hold St. Olaf to eight hits in the game.

Kulesa, Lavin, Glampe, and Pleimann had two hits apiece to account for all eight of the Oles' hits. Kulesa scored a run, while Glampe scored once and drove in another.

Sophomore Kevin Steel suffered his first loss of the season after giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts over his 5.0 innings of work. First year Nick Levasseur, senior Brock Brumley, and Oberlander worked scoreless innings in relief and all had at least one strikeout.

Mac Enlow broke the scoreless deadlock for the Pipers with a two-run single in the fourth before Hamline extended its lead to 3-0 on a wild pitch in the fifth. The visitors broke the game open with four runs on five hits in the top of the sixth to open up a 7-0 lead.

After Kulesa reached on an error and Lavin singled to start the bottom of the sixth, Glampe lined a single down the left-field line to score Kulesa and get the Oles on the board. St. Olaf added a second run on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the eighth after loading the bases with one out. The Oles filled the bases again in the ninth but could not cut into their five-run deficit.