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Ole Baseball Extends Winning Streak

Lars Finanger/Matt Karnas
April 11, 2001

The Oles extended their winning streak to six games with their sweep over the Hamline Pipers. While the Oles captured a 5-0 victory in the opener, the offense pounded out fourteen hits enroute to a 17-4 win in the second game.

The visiting Oles opened the scoring in the first stanza when senior Co-Captain Casey Coulson (Rosemount, Minn.) doubled and later scored on Dan LaManna's (Jr., So. St. Paul, Minn.) two out double. After adding another run in the fourth, the Oles increased the lead to 4-0 in the fifth. Steve Ryan (Jr., So. St. Paul, Minn.) led off the inning with a line drive single, advanced to second on a grounder to short and scored on an RBI single off the bat of Brian Sprout (Jr., Lake City, Minn.). St. Olaf added their final run in the top half of the seventh when Coulson reached on an error and scored on a Sprout RBI double off the left field fence.

While the Ole batters tallied up seven hits, including three from Sprout, starting pitcher Aaron Koppen (Jr., Pine City, Minn.) kept the Piper bats off balance in his shutout performance. Koppen went the distance for the Oles throwing only ninety-five pitches and striking out five.

In the second game the Oles put runs on the board in five of the seven innings and stroked out fourteen hits enroute to a 17-4 victory. The third inning put the game away as the Oles erupted for seven runs. Kevin Quame (Jr., Benson, Minn.) drew a walk to lead off the inning and moved to third on a "hit and run" double by Lars Finanger (Jr., Decorah, Iowa). Both Quame and Finanger scored when Joe Hammond's (Jr., Neillsville, Wis.) grounder to second was thrown wildly past the catcher. After Hammond advanced to second base on the errant throw, Nick Beissel (Jr., Lakeville, Minn.) roped a single to left enabling him to score. Steve Ryan followed with a perfectly placed drag bunt down the third base line and easily made it to first without drawing a throw. Joe Pavelko (FY, Richfield, Minn.) dropped down a sacrifice bunt the following pitch and hauled down to first causing the pitcher to force an errant throw out of the first baseman?s reach. While Beissel scored on the errant throw and Ryan advanced to third, a Coulson sacrifice fly scored Ryan. Sprout continued his hitting clinic with an RBI double to left field allowing Pavelko to score. After advancing to third on an errant LaManna grounder, Sprout scored on a wild pitch. Showing up to the plate for the second time in the inning, Quame laced a double to the left-center gap scoring LaManna, but was stranded on second when Finanger popped out to the catcher to end the inning.

Even though the Oles pounded out seven runs in the third inning, they pumped out four more in the fourth. Hammond led off the inning and reached first when the shortstop booted his grounder. Hammond took his time rounding the bases when the following batter, Beissel, put an 0-2 fastball off the scoreboard in left-center field for his third homer of the season. After Ryan struck out, Pavelko drew a walk and advanced to third on a Coulson single. Both runners scored when Sprout tagged his second double of the game off the left-center fence.

Leading the way offensively for the Oles were Beissel and Sprout who each collected three hits and three RBI's. Starting pitcher Jim Eckstein (FY, Sleepy Eye, Minn.) frustrated the Piper sticks during his five innings of work. Eckstein showed control on the mound striking out three and holding the opposition scoreless.

With the sweep, St.Olaf improves their overall record to 11-5 (4-0 MIAC). The Oles look forward to their home opener this Saturday, April 14 at 1:00 when they host the Bethel Royals.

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