WEST LIBERTY, Iowa – The St. Olaf College baseball team split the final two games of its four-game set with Luther College, posting a 15-2 victory in game one and a 5-3 loss in game two on Sunday at West Liberty High School.
After dropping the first two games of the series on Saturday, St. Olaf (4-4) got out to a 6-0 lead midway through game one before breaking it open with an eight-run sixth inning. Luther (6-4) completed a 3-1 series win in the finale as four Norse pitchers limited the Oles to five hits to close out the weekend.
St. Olaf will return to Iowa for a three-game set at Wartburg College next weekend, starting with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, March 14. The teams will also play a single game at noon on Sunday, March 15.
St. Olaf 15, Luther 2 | Box Score
Four Oles had at least three hits in the first game of the day as St. Olaf pounded 10 extra-base hits in a 17-hit performance. Senior
Henry Black led the charge by going 4-for-4 with three doubles, two RBI, and a career-high six RBI, which marked the most RBI for an Ole since Joey Glampe '24 had seven against Crown College on April 10, 2024.
First year
Dex Pudduck was 3-for-5 with a double, his first collegiate home run, three runs scored, and four RBI, while senior
Jack Pettit and junior
Kanen Kreafle had three-hit performances. Kreafle had two of St. Olaf's nine doubles and scored three times, while Pettit got on base in all four of his at bats with three hits and a walk.
First year
Alex Oehlke picked up his second win in as many collegiate starts with 4.0 innings of shutout ball, working around four hits and three walks. Pettit earned a three-inning save after allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
St. Olaf put the first runs of the day on the board on Black's two-out, two-run double in the second after the first two batters of the inning were retired. The Oles extended their lead to 6-0 with four runs in the bottom of the fourth, with Black delivering another two-run double for one of three consecutive two-baggers in the inning.
Luther used a two-run home run in the top of the fifth to make it a 6-2 game, but St. Olaf scored once in the fifth and eight times in the sixth to run away with it. Pudduck's three-run home run highlighted the Oles' eight-run sixth that included seven hits, two of which came from Pudduck.
Luther 5, St. Olaf 3 | Box Score
After the teams traded two-run innings in the third, Luther broke the tie with two in the fourth and another in the fifth and shut the Oles down from there to gain a split on the day. The Norse held St. Olaf to one hit over the final six innings.
Pettit was the lone Ole with multiple hits in game two, going 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and one RBI. Kreafle hit the second home run of his career with a solo shot in the third. First years
Nolan Nelson and
Tate Williams combined for 3.0 innings of shutout relief after Luther scored five runs in the first five innings.
Luther opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the third, but St. Olaf quickly got the two runs back in the home half of the inning. Kreafle led off the inning with a solo home run before Pettit added a two-out, run-scoring double to bring in senior
Christopher Woodside, who had singled with one out.
The Norse took the lead for good with two runs in the fourth and added an insurance run in the fifth to go up, 5-2. The Oles filled the bases on walks with one out in the fifth but did not score. St. Olaf got its final run of the day when Pudduck was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth but left the bases full again.
