The Oles' Todd Mathison fields a ground ball in the team's 8-4 win over St. Norbert on Thursday. Mathison went 3-for-5 and pitched the last six outs to earn the save.
St. Olaf 8, St. Norbert 4 (Box)

Baseball rallies for 8-4 win over St. Norbert

Mike Ludwig
May 14, 2009

OSHKOSH, Wis. - St. Olaf erased a four-run deficit and defeated St. Norbert College 8-4 on Thursday in the second round of the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional.

Todd Mathison, who was 3-for-5, had a RBI double in the seventh inning that broke a 4-4 tie. Mathison started at short but came in to close the game on the mound, retiring the final six St. Norbert batters to get his second save of the season.

St. Olaf, 2-0 in the regional, will play the winner of the Thursday night game between St. Thomas and St. Scholastica.

St. Norbert scored a run on a two-out Jared Yost single in the fourth and made it 4-0 with Ryan Gusick's three-run homer in the fourth.

The Oles responded with three runs in the fifth, sparked by Tyler Jonnson's two-run homer, to get within two. Johnson's blast gave him a school record tying 13 for the spring.

Pat Wadzinski knocked in a run with his single in the fifth to make it 4-3 before St. Olaf tied the game on a fielder's choice in the sixth. Wadzinski was 1-for-3 with two walks, which tied the single-season school record (34), and a sacrifice bunt.

St. Olaf starting pitcher Ben Hughes went six innings before giving way to Erik Olson. Olson worked one inning before Mathison, who inherited two runners with no outs in the eighth, rescued St. Olaf with a strikeout and a pair of fly outs to end the eighth.

Erik Klefsaas had a 3-for-4 day at the plate for the Oles while Carson Jones and Erik Nelson had two hits each.

Garrick Fisher went 3-for-4 while Gusick and Cory Fuller went 2-for-4 for St. Norbert.

Contact media relations specialist Mike Ludwig at (507) 786-3834 or ludwigm@stolaf.edu.