St. Bonifacius, Minn. - The Polars finished their home schedule on Wednesday evening with a 10-5 loss to St. Olaf.
Joaquin Pfeiffer started for the Polars and was solid on the mound. He allowed six runs but avoided the big inning and kept the offense within reach. He threw 98 pitches over seven innings, striking out four. Brett Torbeck finished the game, allowing two runs in each of his two innings while striking out three batters. He worked out of difficult jams in both innings, including two strikeouts in the ninth, followed by a stellar play by Brayden Anderson with two runners in scoring position.
After a scoreless top of the first from Pfeiffer, Keegan Eastman got the Polars on the board in the bottom half with an RBI double that scored Bryan Gerbers. St. Olaf put up four runs in the top of the second, capped off by a three-run home run. The Oles added another run in the third to take a 5-1 lead.
Brayden Anderson tripled in the third to score Carrick Burke, and a big RBI double from Bryan Gerbers scored Burke and Andrew Moulton in the fourth to cut the Ole lead to 5-4. Two scoreless innings from Pfeiffer gave the Polars an opportunity to take the lead, but St. Olaf added a run in the seventh and two in the eighth to take an 8-4 lead. The Polars got one back in the eighth on another RBI double from Gerbers, again scoring Burke to bring the Polars within three runs. St. Olaf added two in the ninth and held the Polars scoreless in the bottom half to secure the 10-5 win.
It was an exceptional baseball game with just one total error between the two teams. Burke scored three times on two hits, including a double. Brayden Anderson went 2-for-4 with an RBI triple. Bryan Gerbers went 3-for-4 with a run scored and three RBIs, adding two doubles and a stolen base. Keegan Eastman doubled and walked twice, and Tyler Olson also doubled as the Polars tallied six extra-base hits in the game.
