ST. PETER, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team fell into a tie for the fourth and final playoff spot after 15-0 and 15-9 losses to No. 18/21-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College on Tuesday afternoon at Gustie Baseball Field.

Gustavus (31-7, 15-3 MIAC), which was ranked No. 18 in the D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25 and No. 21 in the American Baseball Coaches Association poll this week, tallied 30 runs on 31 hits to sweep St. Olaf (20-13, 11-7) to avenge the Oles' regular-season sweep last year. After being held to one hit in game one, St. Olaf scored nine runs over the final five innings after falling behind 13-0 in game two.

The two defeats left the Oles in a tie with Saint Mary's University for the final spot in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs heading into the last day of the regular season on Saturday. St. Olaf will conclude its season against Carleton College, while the Cardinals will face MIAC co-leader Bethel University.

Before its twin bill against Carleton, St. Olaf will host UW-Eau Claire for a single non-conference game on Wednesday, April 30 at 2:30 p.m.

No. 18/21 Gustavus 15, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score

Gustavus scored in each of the first four innings, including a nine-run first inning, and got 6.0 innings of one-hit ball from Adam Biewen to cruise to the win in game one. Biewen did not walk a batter and struck out four while remaining perfect on the season at 6-0.

Sophomore Kanen Kreafle recorded the lone hit of the game for St. Olaf with a leadoff single in the top of the sixth. Junior William Silton retired all seven batters he faced over 2.1 innings of scoreless relief with two strikeouts as the fourth Ole pitcher of the game.

No. 18/21 Gustavus 15, St. Olaf 9 | Box Score

Like game one, Gustavus got out to a sizable early lead with six runs in the second and seven more in the fourth to open up a 13-0 lead before St. Olaf scored the next eight runs to get within five. The Gusties hit three home runs in the first four innings to build the 13-run cushion.

Junior Christopher Woodside was one of four Oles with multi-hit games by going 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. Junior Mason Buck was 2-for-5 with a triple, a run scored, and three RBI, while Kreafle was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI. First year Josiah Utsch threw 3.1 shutout innings out of the bullpen for the Oles.

Trailing 13-0, St. Olaf put its first runs of the day on the board in the top of the fifth when senior Evan Hammonds drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs and senior Matthew Kulesa followed by reaching on an error to bring in another run. The Oles proceeded to score six times in the seventh to make it a five-run game, with Buck delivering a three-run triple and Kreafle recording a two-out, run-scoring single in the inning.

After the Gusties extended their lead to 15-8 with two runs in the bottom of the eighth, Kreafle completed his first collegiate multi-hit game by following a Woodside two-out double with one of his own in the top of the ninth for the final run of the game.