NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team dropped both ends of its home-opening doubleheader, falling to Saint John's University by scores of 6-3 and 15-4 in seven innings on Tuesday afternoon at Mark Almli Field.

After being forced to wait an extra 11 days for its home opener, St. Olaf (16-8, 7-3 MIAC) was swept for the first time this season by Saint John's (18-10, 8-2 MIAC), which hit five home runs on the day to back strong starts from its top-two starters. After being held to four hits in the opener, the Oles tallied 13 hits in the game-two loss.

St. Olaf will visit No. 10-ranked UW-La Crosse for a single game on Wednesday, April 16 at 2:30 p.m. at Copeland Park.

Saint John's 6, St. Olaf 3 | Box Score

After trailing 4-1 midway through the fifth, St. Olaf scored twice in the bottom of the inning to make it a one-run game, but Saint John's held on behind a complete-game effort from Connor Hartley. Hartley surrendered three runs (two earned) on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts for the Johnnies.

Senior Jacob Fickenscher, the reigning Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Pitcher of the Week, struck out five and allowed one run on two hits over the first 2.2 innings for St. Olaf, which used four pitchers in the game. Senior Matthew Oberlander was charged with his second loss of the season after giving up two runs in 1.1 innings before senior David Scheil and junior Christopher Woodside threw the final 3.0 frames.

After Saint John's got a run off of Fickenscher in the top of the second, St. Olaf got it back in the bottom of the third by taking advantage of a pair of errors by the Johnnies in the inning. With runners on the corners and two outs, senior Matthew Kulesa reached on an error to allow senior Evan Hammonds to score and tie the game.

The Johnnies reclaimed the lead with two runs on four hits in the next half inning and added another run in the fifth on Joe Becker's first of three home runs on the day. The Oles responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, scoring on an error in the outfield following a single by Kulesa and an RBI double by sophomore Cole Pleimann.

Saint John's added insurance runs in each of its final two innings at the plate and Hartley retired the final eight batters he faced to close out the win for the visitors.

Saint John's 15, St. Olaf 4 (7 inn.) | Box Score

Saint John's belted four home runs in game two, including one on the first pitch of the game and two more by Becker, on its way to completing the sweep. Junior Mason Buck had three hits and classmate Breckin Hadley homered in the loss for the Oles.

Buck had his fourth multi-hit game in the last six contests by going 3-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI. Woodside and classmate Jack Pettit both had a pair of hits, with Pettit scoring a run. St. Olaf got 13 hits off Will Fazio and Kade Bowar, but the Johnnie pitchers limited the damage to four runs.

Saint John's scored one run in the first, six in the second, two in the fourth, and three in the fifth to open up a 12-0 lead before Buck got St. Olaf on the board with a two-out, run-scoring double to deep right in the bottom of the fifth. Buck's double scored Pettit, who singled in the prior at bat.

Hadley led off the bottom of the sixth with a second-pitch home run to right center for his second home run of the season. After the Johnnies scored three times in the top of the seventh, St. Olaf got a pair of runs in the final half inning, scoring on a Saint John's error and an RBI single by Kulesa.