Game 1 box score | Game 2 box score

Hamline strengthened its hold on an MIAC playoff berth by sweeping the visiting Scots in a pair of close games, 4-1 and 8-6. The Pipers held Macalester to six hits in the opener and held on in game two after jumping out on top 6-0 after three innings.

Macalester falls to 8-24 on the year, 3-17 in the MIAC, while Hamline remains in third-place in the standings at 21-11 overall and 15-5 in conference competition.

Crystal Barriga (So., Broomfield, Colo. / Legacy) knocked out a pair of home runs, her fourth and fifth of the season, to lead the Macalester comeback in the nightcap. Barriga, who went 5-for-7 on the day to boost her team-leading batting average to .396, drove in teammate Katie Grudnowski (Sr., Minnetonka, Minn. / Blake School) with two-run shots in both the fourth and fifth innings as the Scots pulled to within a run at 7-6. Barriga has driven in 36 runs and owns a .673 slugging percentage as 18 of her 40 hits are for extra bases.

Grudnowski also went 3-for-4 in game two to raise her average to .299.  She leads the team with 23 runs scored. Hayley Reeves (Fy., Oberlin, Ohio) was 2-for-4. Reeves extended Mac's fourth-inning rally by following Barriga's round-tripper with a double.  She and Monica Keaney (So., Philadelphia, Pa. / Friends Select) later crossed the plate on RBI groundouts by Meredith Wisniewski (Jr., Park Ridge, Ill. / Maine South) and Alison Phillips (So., Vernon Hills, Ill. / Adlai Stevenson).

In game one, Hamline led 4-0 before Mac got on the board in the seventh when Wisniewski drove in Lisa Moldan (Fy., New Ulm, Minn. / Sleepy Eye St. Mary's) with a single to break up the shutout.

The Scots close out the season Tuesday (April 29) at Carleton.