DAVENPORT, Fla. – The St. Olaf College baseball team concluded the first of its two Florida trips with an 11-7 loss to Grove City College in the late innings on Sunday at Northeast Regional Park.
After allowing just four runs in three wins to start the trip, St. Olaf (3-1) yielded 11 runs on 11 hits and 12 walks to a Grove City (3-3) team that has now scored 68 runs its six games this season. The game marked the first-ever meeting between the Oles and Wolverines, who won 31 games and appeared in the NCAA Tournament last season.
St. Olaf trailed 5-2 after four innings before scoring the next five runs to build a 7-6 lead in the sixth. Grove City broke a 7-7 tie with four runs in the top of the eighth and got 3.0 innings of shutout relief from Caz Ostrowski to shut down the Oles in the late innings.
First year
Dex Pudduck had the first three-hit game of his collegiate career by going 3-for-4 with a walk, a triple, one RBI, and two runs scored for St. Olaf. Senior
Frank Lavin capped a trip where he hit .412 (7-for-17) with a 2-for-5 day at the plate that included a double, a run scored, and an RBI.
Fifth-year senior
Ian Enyeart got the start and held the Wolverines to one run over the first 3.0 innings before Grove City got to the Oles' bullpen. Seven pitchers worked in the game for St. Olaf, while Grove City used just two after getting 6.0 innings from starter Kenny Lavrich.
Pudduck led off the game with a single, stole second, and scored on a double by senior
Mason Buck to quickly give St. Olaf a 1-0 lead. The Wolverines got the run back in the third before junior
Cole Pleimann and Lavin recorded doubles in the fourth to put the Oles back on top.
After the first two batters of the bottom of the fourth struck out, Grove City scored four runs without a hit as six walks and a hit batter led to a 5-2 lead for the Wolverines. Pudduck delivered a run-scoring triple with one out in the top of the fifth and later scored on a fielder's choice to bring the Oles within a run.
Trailing 6-4, St. Olaf plated three runs in the top of the sixth to take a one-run lead. With runners on first and second and one out, junior
Kanen Kreafle provided a pinch-hit, run-scoring double before runs scored on a walk and a ground out by first year
Neil Sevigny. The Wolverines tied the game at 7-7 in the home half of the inning before scoring four runs in the bottom of the eighth to break the tie.
St. Olaf is scheduled to play back-to-back doubleheaders against Luther College on Saturday and Sunday, March 7-8 at West Liberty High School in West Liberty, Iowa. Saturday's twin bill is slated to start at 1 p.m.
