LA CROSSE, Wis. – The St. Olaf College baseball team was defeated 9-3 by No. 10-ranked UW-La Crosse in non-conference play on Wednesday afternoon at Copeland Park.
UW-La Crosse (20-6) scored in each of the first six innings and got 7.0 innings of one-run ball from Owen Anderson to top St. Olaf (16-9), which was playing its third game in two days. The Eagles were ranked No. 10 in both the D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) national polls this week.
Senior
Matthew Kulesa had two of St. Olaf's four hits in the loss, including a solo home run in the sixth inning. Junior
Jack Pettit got on base twice by going 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, while junior
Frank Lavin singled and scored a run.
The Oles used four pitchers in the game, as junior
William Silton worked the first 2.1 innings in his collegiate debut. Sophomore
Joey Haas allowed one unearned run in 1.2 innings of relief before senior
Jack Alley and Pettit both tossed scoreless innings over the final two frames.
Anderson held St. Olaf to two runs (one earned) on three hits with one walk and eight strikeouts for UW-La Crosse, which got two home runs from George Seaman and one from Andrew Rajkovich.
The Eagles scored twice in the first, once in the second, and once in the third before the Oles got on the board in the top of the fourth. Pettit and Kulesa started the inning with back-to-back singles before a double play left a runner at third with two outs. Sophomore
Cole Pleimann drew a walk to keep the inning alive before junior
Christopher Woodside reached on an error to bring in Pettit.
UW-La Crosse extended its lead to 7-1 after five before Kulesa hit a solo shot to left with one out in the top of the sixth for his second home run of the season. St. Olaf's final run came on a fielder's choice off the bat of junior
Mason Buck in the eighth, as the Oles benefited from three walks and an error in the inning.
St. Olaf will return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play at home against Augsburg University on Saturday, April 19 in a 1 p.m. doubleheader.
