DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team moved to 6-0 in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play for the second season in a row by sweeping the College of St. Scholastica by scores of 4-0 and 5-4 on Friday afternoon at Wade Stadium.

Senior Jacob Fickenscher tossed a five-hit shutout to pitch St. Olaf (15-5, 6-0 MIAC) to the victory in the opener before the Oles overcame a 3-0 deficit and used a four-run seventh inning to complete the sweep of St. Scholastica (9-12, 2-5 MIAC) in game two. The sweep extended St. Olaf's winning streak to nine games and meant the Oles remain the final unbeaten team in the conference.

St. Olaf will make the drive to Concordia-Moorhead for its second of back-to-back doubleheaders on Saturday, April 12. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Bucky Burgau Field.

St. Olaf 4, St. Scholastica 0 | Box Score

Fickenscher threw the first shutout of his collegiate career, limiting St. Scholastica to five hits and one walk with nine strikeouts to run his record to 5-1 on the season. The nine-strikeout performance boosted Fickenscher's MIAC-leading total this season to 40 strikeouts in 35.0 innings pitched.

Offensively, St. Olaf put together two-run innings in the fourth and seventh after Jonathan Stoeckle stymied the Oles early on. Stoeckle ended up yielding four runs on eight hits with one walk and seven strikeouts over 6.1 innings for the Saints.

St. Olaf had just one baserunner in the first three innings before breaking through in the fourth. Junior Mason Buck started the inning with a bunt single and junior Breckin Hadley reached on an infield single to put two runners on with one out. Sophomore Cole Pleimann opened the scoring by lacing a two-run double to center before Stoeckle retired the final two hitters of the inning.

St. Scholastica's biggest scoring threat came when the Saints started the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back singles, but Fickenscher got a double play on a popped-up bunt and a strikeout to get out of the frame unscathed. The Oles added to their lead in the top of the seventh on RBI singles by senior Jack Alley and Buck, who had his second three-hit game of the season by going 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

Alley also had two hits in the victory, going 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Four other Oles had one hit apiece.

St. Olaf 5, St. Scholastica 4 | Box Score

St. Olaf faced a 3-1 deficit in game two before scoring four runs in the top of the seventh to take the lead. Sophomore Kieran Haaland made the lead stand up by tossing the final three innings, allowing one run on one hit with two strikeouts to collect his second save of the season.

Buck, Hadley, and Pleimann had two hits apiece to combine for six of St. Olaf's 10 hits. Pleimann was 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and one RBI, while Buck and Hadley both scored a run. Junior Frank Lavin added the go-ahead two-run single in the seventh.

Sophomore Nick Levasseur came away with a no-decision after allowing three runs on five hits over the first 4.1 innings before senior David Scheil threw 1.2 innings of shutout relief by working around three walks to earn his first win of the season.

St. Scholastica jumped on Levasseur early with two runs in the bottom of the first and Payton Jeffries struck out six Oles over the first three innings during his first trip through the lineup. The Saints extended their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the third before St. Olaf got on the board in the next half inning when Buck tripled with one out and scored on a groundout by senior Matthew Kulesa.

St. Olaf got to Jeffries for four runs on five hits in the top of the seventh to turn a two-run deficit into a two-run lead. After Kulesa and Hadley started the inning with back-to-back singles, Pleimann singled to right to bring in Kulesa and left two more runners in scoring position after getting to second on the throw. Lavin ripped a two-run single to left center two pitches later to put the Oles on top. Later in the inning, junior Jack Pettit drove in the eventual game-winning run on a fielder's choice.

The Saints took advantage of a leadoff double in the eighth to cut their deficit to one, but Haaland worked around a leadoff error on the ninth to finish off the win. Haaland struck out the next two batters before Hadley threw out an attempted base-stealer at second for the final out.