DAVENPORT, Fla. – The St. Olaf College baseball team held an early 4-0 lead before Middlebury College used a nine-run fifth inning to rally for a 13-9 victory on Monday at Northeast Regional Park.

In just the second-ever meeting between the two programs, St. Olaf (5-11) took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth before Middlebury (7-4) plated nine runs on six hits in the next half inning to open up a 10-4 cushion. The Oles scored the next five runs to get within one in the eighth but could not complete the comeback.

Junior Kanen Kreafle, first year Dex Pudduck, and junior Cole Pleimann all reached base four times in the game for St. Olaf. Kreafle was 2-for-4 with two walks, a double, a home run, four runs scored, and one RBI, while Pudduck was 3-for-5 with a double, a walk, and two RBI. Pleimann went 2-for-4 with two walks and two runs scored as the Oles drew 12 walks in the loss.

First year Alex Oehkle held the Panthers to one unearned run on two hits with one walk and two strikeouts over the first 4.0 innings in a no-decision before Middlebury got to the St. Olaf bullpen in the middle innings.

After St. Olaf left the bases loaded in the first, Kreafle led off the top of the second with a solo home run inside the left-field foul pole to ignite a three-run inning. Later in the frame, Pudduck doubled in a run and senior Henry Black was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Back-to-back wild pitches by Middlebury led to another St. Olaf run in the third as Kreafle came in to score after drawing a walk to start the inning. The Panthers got the run back in the bottom of the third before scoring nine runs off the Oles' bullpen in the fifth.

Trailing 10-4, the Oles chipped away at their deficit with two in the seventh and three more in the eighth to make it a 10-9 game. In the seventh, Pleimann started the inning with a single, got to third on a double by Kreafle, and scored on a wild pitch. Junior Sawyer Chell followed by beating out a ground ball into the hole to score Kreafle.

St. Olaf loaded the bases with one out in the eighth before first year Mekhi Valle drew a pinch-hit walk to score a run. Two more runs came in after Chell brought one in with a fielder's choice ground out and Pudduck coaxed a bases-loaded walk two batters later.

Middlebury canceled out the Oles' three-run eighth with three runs in the home half of the inning to reclaim a four-run lead at 13-9. Black started the top of the ninth with a single, but a double play helped the Panthers close out the win.

St. Olaf will open Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play with a 1/3:30 p.m. doubleheader at Macalester College on Saturday, March 28.