Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 It was a little hairy at times but the Hamline baseball team swept St. Olaf, 9-8 and 6-2, Tuesday at CHS Field to move within a game of first place in the MIAC. The Pipers improved to 10-4 in MIAC play and 20-10 overall. They trail first place St. Thomas by one game with six remaining. 

Zach Smith earned a pair of wins in relief for the Pipers, who have won five games in a row. In the first game, he was the beneficiary of Rick Tormey's gamewinning single in the last of the seventh. In the nightcap, he was the second of five pitchers used, allowing just one earned run in three innings of work. 

Fox six innings in the opener, the Pipers looked on their way to a lopsided win. HU combined 10 hits, two hit batters, a walk, two solen bases and tow errors for all their runs in a three-inning segment. Joe Setrum had the big bat, lining out three hits, scoring one run and driving in two others. Jacob Picht, who would have a key role in the second game, added two hits, scoring two and adding a RBI.

Nolan Schoonveld surrendered just two hits in the first six innings. But he and two relievers who followed him ran into a wild streak that led to the Oles scoring six times. Smith entered the game with the score tied at 8, the bases loaded and just one out. he retired the two batters he faced. In the last of the seventh, Mitch Benson walked and stole second. Tormey, inserted as a pinch-hitter, lined a 1-1 pitch down the left field line to end the drama. 

Picht went 2-for-4 with four RBI to lead the HU attack in Game 2. It started in the third when Benson singled, was sacrificed to second and ran home on Picht's single. In the fifth inning, Dan Moro singled and Picht hit his first home run of the season, a shot over the right field wall. 

Nick Kukurich went the first two innings with Smith taking over in the third. He advanced to the sixth inning when the Oles nicked him for a pair of runs. HU matched that in the seventh inning (Picht had a sacrifrice fly as part of the frame) and Tormey capped the night with a RBI marker in the eighth. 

Aaron Stoneberg earned his second save with two perfect innings of relief. 

The Pipers get back in action Thursday with a NC doubleheader against Wis-Superior Thursday at CHS. The first game starts at 4:00 p.m. HU returns to MIAC action Sunday at Augsburg (16-16, 6-8 MIAC) in a 1:00 p.m. twinbill.