NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Carleton College baseball team dropped a doubleheader against the crosstown rival St. Olaf College, falling by scores of 9-5 and 9-7. Outfielders
Sam Zacks and
Sam Gossard led the Knights (10-21, 7-11 MIAC) with three hits each across the twin bill as the Knights could not grab a lead in the opener and could not hold the lead in the nightcap.
With the two victories, St. Olaf (25-9, 15-1 MIAC) secured at least a share of the MIAC regular season title.
Game 1 Recap
The two Northfield rivals exchanged blows in the first inning, with the Oles striking first with thanks to back-to-back doubles. Carleton answered in the bottom of the frame when
Ryan Chang belted his fourth home run of the season.
The next two innings proved mostly uneventful before the Oles hit another RBI double to take a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning. A
Steve Antrim double put Knights on second and third with two down in the bottom of the frame, but the Knights could not get either runner across. The Oles made the hosts pay with a three-run double in the fifth, pushing the lead to 5-1.
An
Aaron Rice triple and
Brayden Stark sacrifice fly got one of those runs back for Carleton in the bottom of the fifth, but St. Olaf responded with four more runs the following frame to push the lead to 9-2.
Carleton attempted to rally in the bottom of the seventh as Zacks was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Gossard followed with a two-run single, but 9-5 would finish the final score.
Sam Chutkow got the start for the Knights and took the loss despite five strikeouts over 4.2 innings.
Jack Curtis contributed a scoreless inning of relief work.
Game 2 Recap
Once again both teams pushed a run across during the opening stanza. St. Olaf scored on a fielder's choice, and Zacks raced home following a throwing error on his steal of third base.
The Knights earned their first lead of the day the next inning via a sacrifice fly from Rice and a Zacks' RBI single.
St. Olaf tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth, but the Knights re-gained the lead in the fifth when a failed pickoff attempt allowed Gossard to score.
A two-out double by
Jack Hommeyer and Stark RBI single gave the Knights a 5-3 lead in sixth, but the Oles would counter with four unearned runs in the top of the seventh to take a 7-5 lead.
St. Olaf tacked on another run in the eighth before Gossard answered with a two-run single to bring the Knights within 8-7. The Oles tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth, and the game would end 9-7.
Ananth Iyer took the hard-luck loss, yielding seven runs (only three earned) over 6.1 innings. He tied his season high with six strikeouts.
Next Up for the Knights
Carleton concludes the home portion of the schedule with a non-conference doubleheader against North Central (MN) University. A Senior Day celebration will be held shortly before the 3:00 p.m. first pitch.
