Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 There were a few tense moments along the way. But Hamline held off a late St. Olaf rally for a 9-7 win and a split of a doubleheader Friday at Meredith Field. The Pipers, who lost the opener, 8-5, in eight innings, maintained their second place tie with Gustavus with an 8-4 MIAC mark.  

Jamie Rubbelke whacked out six hits (three in each game), including a home run and a double, to lead the Pipers'  26-hit assault for the day. Brooke Chapman (pictured) drove in two runs in the first game and pitched well enough in the nightcap to push her won-loss record to 6-0 on the season. 

Despite the chilly weather, both games were freewheeling affairs. 

In the first game, Rubbelke's third inning home run gave HU a brief 2-1 lead. The Oles scored in the fouirth to tie the game and seemed to take command with a three-run outburst in the top of the fifth inning. Chapman, however, struck back with a two-RBI single as part of a three-run rally in the bottom of the frame that tied the game. Hamline had a chance in the seventh when Rubbelke doubled to open the inning but she was stranded at third base. The sophomore shortstop, who is batting .432 (second on the Pipers to Mary-Clare Couillard's .435 standard), has 41 hits, second most total of any MIAC player. 

Brooke Paradise's three-run homer in the top of the eighth won it for St. Olaf.

In the second game, Chapman started on the mound and was hit for a two-RBI homer in the top of the first inning but then settled down and retired the next nine batters in a row. HU grabbed the lead with three runs in the third and stretched it as far as 7-2 after five innings. 

But Chapman hit a wall in the sixth and Morgan Rykken, who eventually earned a save, relieved her after the Oles scored a pair of runs ot make it 7-4. It looked like window dressing at the time when Lauren Clouston lifted a sacrifice fly and Brittney Bredemus followed with a RBI single to up the lead to 9-4.

But the Oles scored three times in the top of seventh and broughr the tying run to the plate before Rykken could close the door for good and the Pipers could finally breathe a little easier. 

Hamline, now 14-13-1 overall, is off until Tuesday, April 22 when they start a daunting week of game. First up: St. Mary's in a makeup doubleheader for the games that were snowed out Thursday. HU is at Bethel on April 23. They will face their fellow second place tenant Gustavus Adolphus on Saturday, April 26 and travel to Moorhead on Sunday, April 27 to take on Concordia.