<rleton College baseball team held its final home doubleheader of the year on Wednesday as the Knights hosted cross-town rival St. Olaf at Mel Taube Field. The Oles connected for a pair of game-changing home runs in each contest and swept the twinbill by tallies of 4-1 and 5-2. Willie Freimuth (Sr./Waunakee, Wis./Waunakee) paced the Knights with three hits on the day and played all nine defensive positions in game two, spending one inning at each location.
GAME 1
The contest was scoreless until the Oles’ Jake Mathison opened the fourth inning with a solo home run. Carleton knotted things up in the bottom of the stanza when Freimuth raced home on Brendon Fischel’s (So./Eureka, Calif./Eureka) sacrifice fly.
In the top of the fifth, St. Olaf (13-22, 6-12 MIAC) strung together four consecutive two-out hits, including a two-run homer from Sam Stuckmayer, as part of the three-run rally. Carleton (9-25, 2-16 MIAC) got the tying run to the plate in the seventh but could not complete a comeback.
Austin Heuer (So./Elk River, Minn./Elk River) went the distance for his third complete game in his last four starts but absorbed the loss as he was solved for the four runs.
GAME 2
Instead of trying to locate Waldo, fans in attendance had the opportunity to play “Where’s Willie?” as they attempted to keep track of where the Carleton senior was on defense. Freimuth started the game at catcher before playing an inning each at first base, right field, center field, left field, third base, shortstop, second base, and finally pitcher.
One day after working in relief, Tyler Rolland (Jr./Burnsville, Minn./Apple Valley) got the starting nod for Carleton, working 4.0 innings of one-run ball. The Knights evened the score in the fifth as Logan Crowl (Jr./Chicago, Ill./University of Chicago Lab School) doubled and scored on Freimuth’s single. The Oles inched back in front in the sixth, but Carleton answered an inning later as Chris Lasch (Fy./South Newfane, Vt./Northfield Mount Hermon) doubled and scored on Zane Johann’s (Fy./Berkeley, Calif./College Preparatory School) sacrifice fly.
With two down in the eighth, Mathison and Stuckmayer struck again for back-to-back home runs that gave St. Olaf the lead for good.
UP NEXT FOR THE KNIGHTS: Carleton concludes the season with a doubleheader at Hamline on Saturday, May 6 beginning at 1 p.m.