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St. Olaf Defeats St. Marys to Stay Alive

Jason Welle
May 12, 2001

St. Olaf College defeated St. Mary?s University 4-3 Friday evening, eliminating the Cardinals in the MIAC Baseball Tournament and staying alive to play Concordia College on Saturday, May 12 at 1:00.

Casey Coulsen (Sr., Rosemount, Minn.) hit a sacrifice fly to left field in the bottom of the ninth to score Joe Pavelko (FY, Richfield, Minn.) and complete the come-from-behind win.

St. Mary?s scored first in the third inning when Tony Cicalello turned his leadoff single into a run. After advancing to second on a passed ball and third on a sacrifice, Tony Cicalello reached home on a Greg Setterlund single. The Cardinals again had success in the fourth inning, when they scored two more runs on two hits. David McMahon picked up a one out single before Rob Kimlinger hit a double to bring him home. St. Mary?s ended up sacrificing Kimlinger home to take a 3-0 lead that seemed safe. Cardinal starter Corey Kanz had given up only two hits in the first five innings, forcing several frustrated Ole batters to strike out or pop up.

The Ole bats first found life in the sixth inning. Steve Ryan (Jr., So. St. Paul) led off the inning with a walk and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Coulsen singled to bring Ryan home and put the Oles on the scoreboard. A passed ball that the catcher couldn?t find allowed Coulsen to advance all the way to third before Dan LeManna (Jr., So. St. Paul, Minn.) legged out an infield single that brought Coulsen home. Brad Baglien (FY, Mounds View, Minn.) singled to left to keep the inning alive, but the Oles ended up stranding two runners and couldn?t tie the game.

The Oles did manage tie the game in the next inning, when Pavelko led off the inning with a solo blast to left field that knotted the game at three. That set the stage for the ninth-inning barnburner that gave all fans in attendance their fair share of excitement and great baseball.

With one out, Cicalello knocked a single into left field and later stole second base, putting himself in scoring position for Andy Campbell. Campbell slapped a single into center field that sent Cicalello barreling home for what looked to be the winning run. Ryan bare-handed the ground ball in center field and rifled a throw to a perfectly positioned LeManna that nailed Cicalello at the plate and took the wind out of the Cardinals? sails.

Pavelko led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk. Joe Hammond (Jr., Neillsville, Wis.) bunted him over to second. Ryan hit a grounder to shortstop but beat the throw, advancing Pavelko to third and leaving the winning run at third with two-time MIAC Player of the Year Brian Sprout (Jr., Lake City, Minn.) at the plate. St. Mary?s walked Sprout intentionally to load the bases for Coulsen. Coulsen worked the count in a disciplined at-bat, waiting for the pitch he wanted. He eventually got it; a fastball that he hit into left field to sacrifice home the winning run.

Charlie Ruud (FY, Cannon Falls, Minn.) pitched the complete game win for the Oles, allowing eight hits and striking out six. Nick Steig took the loss for St. Mary?s, working the last two innings and giving up two hits and two walks. Pavelko was two for three with a walk, two runs, and an RBI. Coulsen was two for three with two RBI?s and a run scored. Campbell led Cardinal batsmen, going two for three with a walk; Cicalello was two for four with a run scored.

Contact Pat Buresh at 507-786-3315 or buresh@stolaf.edu.