ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – Senior
Frank Lavin and first year
Lucas Pusterla drove in four runs apiece to power the St. Olaf College baseball team to a 10-5 non-conference win over Crown College on Wednesday at Missile Park.
Lavin and Pusterla combined to go 5-for-9 with four runs scored and eight RBI out of the No. 7 and No. 8 spots in the lineup for St. Olaf (14-23), which improved to 4-0 all-time against Crown (7-26) with the win. First year
Alex Oehlke, junior
Joey Haas, and first year
Brady Stutz combined to go the distance on the mound for the Oles, who used a four-run second to take the lead and never gave it up.
Pusterla recorded his first collegiate three-hit game by going 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored, and a career-high four RBI. Lavin was 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, two runs scored, and four RBI, while junior
Cole Pleimann added a 3-for-5 performance that included a double, a home run, and two runs scored.
After Oehlke worked the first 4.0 innings, Hass and Stutz limited Crown to one unearned run over the final 5.0 innings. Haas recorded his first collegiate win after yielding one unearned run on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts over 4.0 innings of relief before Stutz tossed a scoreless ninth.
After Crown scored a run in the first, St. Olaf started the top of the second with four consecutive hits to put up a four-spot. Senior
Breckin Hadley and junior
Kanen Kreafle began the inning with consecutive singles before Pusterla doubled in Hadley. Lavin followed with a three-run home run for his team-leading eighth long ball of the season.
In the third, Pleimann added a run to St. Olaf's lead with a one-out solo home run, which was his fifth home run of the season. The Polars chipped away at their deficit with a run in the third and another in the fourth to make it a 5-3 game.
With the Oles still up by two, Hadley extended St. Olaf's lead to 6-3 with a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh. Pusterla and Lavin started the Oles' two-run eighth with back-to-back doubles before Lavin came around to score later in the inning on a wild pitch to push St. Olaf's lead to 8-3.
Leading 8-5 to start the ninth, the Oles gave themselves two more insurance runs when Pusterla delivered a two-run single after a single, a walk, and a hit batter filled the bases for the first year with nobody out.
St. Olaf will close out the regular season with a 1 p.m. doubleheader against Augsburg University on Saturday, May 2 at Parade Stadium.
