WEST LIBERTY, Iowa – The St. Olaf College baseball team's bats were quieted by Luther College in 9-2 and 4-0 losses to the Norse on Saturday afternoon at West Liberty High School.

Luther (5-3) broke a 2-2 tie with seven unanswered runs in the sixth through eighth innings of game one before getting a seven-inning no-hitter from Brody Von Berge in game two to sweep St. Olaf (3-3). Three Luther pitchers held the Oles to five hits and struck out 22 in 16.0 innings of work over the two games.

The two teams will complete their four-game set with a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. on Sunday, March 8 back at West Liberty High School. Like Saturday, the teams will play a nine-inning game and a seven-inning game.

Luther 9, St. Olaf 2 | Box Score

After senior Kevin Steel held Luther to one run over the first 4.0 innings, the Norse got to the St. Olaf bullpen to break a 2-2 tie. Luther plated four runs in the sixth, two in the seventh, and one more in the eighth to take the opener.

Steel limited the Norse to one run on two hits and two walks with one strikeout over the first 4.0 frames as the first of five Ole pitchers in the game. Luther got at least one run off all five St. Olaf pitchers, while Josh Stratton and Sam Amundson combined to limit the Oles to five hits. Stratton yielded two runs on four hits over the first 5.0 innings before Amundson retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced – seven via strikeout – to earn the win.

Luther opened the scoring with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fourth, but St. Olaf responded with two runs in the top of the fifth to take its only lead of the day. After the Oles filled the bases on a single by first year Lucas Pusterla, a single by senior Jack Pettitt, and a walk to senior Calvin Keesler, first year Dex Pudduck singled in two runs to give St. Olaf a 2-1 lead.

The Norse got the run back to tie the game in the home half of the fifth before scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth after the first five batters of the inning reached. Luther added onto its lead in the seventh and eighth as Amundson made the lead stand up.

Luther 4, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score

Von Berge tossed a seven-inning no-hitter to pitch Luther to the sweep, allowing just five base runners on two walks, one hit batter, and two errors to pick up the win. The Norse scored twice in the third and once each in the fourth and sixth innings.

Junior Sam Hruska held Luther scoreless over the first 2.0 innings, yielding two hits with a pair of strikeouts to give him 4.0 shutout innings to start the season.

All five of St. Olaf's base runners came with two outs in the loss, four of which came in the third and fifth innings. In the third, Pudduck reached on an error before Buck was hit by a pitch, but Von Berge got a strikeout to end the threat in a scoreless game. Trailing 3-0 in the fifth, the Oles got the tying run to the plate on a walk to Pettit and an error on a ground ball off the bat of Pudduck, but a fly out got Von Berge out of the frame.