Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
Macalester pulled out a 6-5 extra inning victory with a two-out rally and held on for a 5-4 decision to sweep visiting Bethel  and take over second place in the MIAC standings.  The Scots bounce back from a pair of defeats last weekend to Augsburg and improve to 16-11 on the season and 6-2 in the MIAC (only St. Thomas at 8-0 stands on top of Macalester).  Bethel came in with eight wins in nine games, but drops to 14-9 on the year, 5-3 in the conference.

Garrett Salzman (Sr., Glendale, Calif. / St. Francis) homered and Nick Mar (Fy., Sacramento, Calif. / McClathy) contributed three doubles to lead the Macalester attack in the opener.  Jimmy Belfont (Jr., Olney, Md. / Our Lady of Good Counsel) went 3-for-3 with three RBI in the nightcap and Salzman had two hits for the second game in a row.

The Scots took advantage of six Bethel errors to win in nine innings in the opening game.  After the Royals scored twice in the first inning, Mac starter CJ Smith (So., Ashland, Wis.) settled down and yielded just one run over his next four innings of work.  Meanwhile, the lineup produced a run in the second, two in the third to go up 3-2, and a key insurance run in the fifth for a 4-2 lead.

Bethel forced extra innings with a pair in the top of the sixth frame and then plated a potential winning run in the ninth.  However, in the bottom of the ninth inning, Macalester produced a winning rally after the first two batters were retired.  A Justin Sims (So., Bronxville, N.Y. / The Beacon School) walk haunted the Royals as Mar followed with this third double of the game to plate pinch-runner Tom Forster (Fy., Stillwater, Minn.).  Mar then scored the walk-off winner on BU's sixth error.

Chase Kahn (So., Cooper City, Fla. / American Heritage Plantation) improved to 4-1 with three good innings in relief of Smith, and then started the nightcap and helped Macalester grab a 6-0 lead after four innings.  A four-run Bethel fifth cost him his second win of the day as the Royals pulled to within one at 5-4.  Reliever Justin Kleschen (Fy., Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Township) tossed scoreless sixth and seventh innings to gain his first collegiate win. 

The Scots play at home for the fourth time in five MIAC doubleheaders when they host Hamline Saturday (April 14) at 1 p.m.  After Saturday, four of Mac's final five MIAC twinbills are on the road.