MIAC Tourney webpage | Macalester vs. Hamline box score

Hamline never led until getting a clutch bases-loaded two-out single in the top of the ninth and held on for a 4-3 win over Macalester in the first round of the MIAC baseball tournament Friday night in Minnetonka. The Scots led 3-2 going into the ninth inning.

The Scots had a one-out infield single in the bottom of the inning, but that was all Macalester could muster, as Hamline hung on for the win.

The Scots play St. John's - which lost 1-0 to St. Thomas in Friday afternoon's contest - tomorrow at 11 a.m. in an elimination game and must win the rest of their games to claim the playoff title.

Mac starter Nick Meerson (Jr., Los Angeles, Calif. / Harvard-Westlake) threw seven outstanding innings for the Scots before being relieved. Meerson surrendered just two runs and seven hits while not walking a batter.

Throughout the game, it appeared the Scots were in control. Garrett Salzman (Jr., Glendale, Calif. / St. Francis) delivered an RBI single in the first to put Macalester up 1-0. Graham Brown (Jr., Annandale, Minn.) led off with a single, scoring on Salzman's single to left after moving into scoring position on a Robert Williams (Jr., West Covina, Calif. / Northview) hit.

Hamline tied the score with a run in the top of the fourth, but the Scots reclaimed the lead by scoring a pair in the fifth when Mitch Glasser (Jr., Chicago, Ill. / The Latin School) delivered a bases-loaded single to give Macalester a 3-1 lead. Glasser is 11-for-20 over the team's last four games and is batting .421 on the season.

Andrew Gardiner (Fy., Hanover, N.H.) led the Macalester offense, going 3-for-4 with a run. Brown was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and Glasser was 2-for-4 with two RBI.

The Pipers pulled within a run in the sixth on an RBI groundout to make it a one-run game.

If Macalester wins tomorrow morning's game with the Johnnies, it will play another elimination game Saturday at 6 p.m. against either St. Thomas or Hamline.