ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team picked up its second top-25 victory of the season with a 7-1 win in game two after No. 25-ranked Bethel University won game one, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon at Hargis Park.
Bethel (25-7, 14-1 MIAC), which began the day with the top team earned-run average (2.96) in NCAA Division III, won a pitchers' duel between senior
Jacob Fickenscher and Max Sutter in game one, which included just five combined hits between the two teams. St. Olaf (20-11, 11-5 MIAC) hit three home runs and got six shutout innings from senior
Matthew Oberlander in game two to hand the Royals just their second home loss in their last 22 games at Hargis Park dating back to April 23, 2024.
The game-two victory was the Oles' second against a nationally-ranked opponent this season, along with a 3-2 win over then No. 11/13-ranked Rowan University on March 20 in Florida. Four St. Olaf pitchers held Bethel to eight hits and a .160 batting average (8-for-50) on the day. The Royals were ranked No. 25 in this week's D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25 poll.
With the split and other results in the conference, St. Olaf is tied with Saint John's University for the third and fourth spots in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) standings with four games remaining. The Oles will travel to Gustavus Adolphus College for a 2:30 p.m. twin bill on Tuesday, April 29.
No. 25 Bethel 2, St. Olaf 1 | Box Score
Sutter outdueled Fickenscher in the opener, as Bethel scored single runs in the second and fourth innings to claim the one-run win. Sutter limited the Oles to one run on three hits with three walks and two strikeouts over 5.1 innings before Aidan Nelson struck out three over the final 1.2 innings to earn the save.
Fickenscher was saddled with the hard-luck loss after yielding two runs on two hits and three walks and seven strikeouts over six-inning complete game. The complete game was the third of the season for the senior, who has struck out at least six batters in six of his nine starts this season.
Bethel got on the board first in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly after starting the inning with a walk, a single, and a wild pitch to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Fickenscher got a pair of strikeouts looking to limit the damage to one run.
St. Olaf got the run back in the top of the fourth when junior
Breckin Hadley drew a one-out walk and came all the way around to score on senior
Jack Alley's two-out double to right center. The Royals plated the eventual game-winning run in the next half inning on a two-out wild pitch. The wild pitch came after Fickenscher got back-to-back strikeouts after a walk and a single put runners on the corners with nobody out.
In the top of the sixth, the Oles loaded the bases with one out but did not score, as Nelson used a strikeout and a fly ball to center to escape the inning unscathed. Nelson set St. Olaf down in order in the seventh.
St. Olaf 7, No. 25 Bethel 1 | Box Score
Juniors
Frank Lavin,
Mason Buck, and
Brendan Goldman all went deep in game two for St. Olaf to back Oberlander's season-high six-inning outing. The Oles outhit the Royals by an 11-6 margin and became the first time this season to homer three times off the Bethel pitching staff.
Lavin was 3-for-4 with a solo home run and two runs scored, Buck blasted a three-run home run, and Goldman added a two-run shot for St. Olaf. Hadley and sophomore
Cole Pleimann had two hits apiece as well.
Oberlander worked around three hits and four walks in his 6.0 shutout innings with one strikeout before juniors
Christopher Woodside and
Jack Pettit finished off the win. Woodside gave up one run in 2.0 innings before Pettit got the Oles out a of a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam on just three pitches in the ninth.
Lavin hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season to give St. Olaf a 1-0 lead with an opposite-field, solo home run with two outs in the top of the second. The Oles extended their lead to 4-0 on a three-run shot by Buck to right with one out in the third after seniors
Evan Hammonds and
Matthew Kulesa got on with a double and a walk.
Oberlander got out of a first-and-third, nobody-out jam in the fifth and a first-and-third, one-out jam in the sixth before turning the ball over to the bullpen. St. Olaf added a run to its lead in the seventh on a run-scoring single by Hadley before Goldman hit a two-run home run – his first of the season – in the eighth to make it 7-0.
Bethel led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run, but that was the lone run the Royals mustered in the game. The hosts filled the bases with nobody out in the ninth, but Pettit got a 1-2-3 double play and a ground ball to second to wrap up the win.
