Box Score
Macalester received outstanding pitching in the season-opening doubleheader with St. Scholastica Monday at the Metrodome, allowing just four hits and a couple unearned runs in the two games, but had to settle for a split with the Saints.   The Scots beat CSS 6-1 in the opener behind the pitching of C.J. Smith (Jr., Ashland, Wis.), but St. Scholastica came back to beat Mac starter Nathan Kelleher-Crew (Jr., Cool, Calif. / Golden Sierra) 1-0  in game two.

Smith pitched 6-plus innings in game one and finished with nine strikeouts to get the campaign off to a excellent start.  Chase Kahn (Jr., Cooper City, Fla. / American Heritage Plantation) got the final three outs in relief.

Macalester plated four runs in the top of the first to give Smith a comfortable lead.  Justin Sims (Jr., Bronx, N.Y. / The Beacon School) singled in two runs, Nick Sia (Fy., Gambrills, Md. / South River) singled in the third run, and Sims scored the fourth run on an RBI fielder's choice by Jimmy Belfont (Sr., Olney, Md. / Our Lady of Good Counsel).  The Scots scored insurance runs, getting an RBI single from Joe Dobbins (Fy., Washington, D.C. / St. Alban's School)  in the third and scoring another run on three hits in the seventh.

Sims went 3-for-3 with three runs and two runs batted in, while Sia and Dobbins collected a couple hits each.

On the day, Sims and Belfont each collected three hits.

St. Scholastica, traditional Upper Midwest Athletic Conference power, tallied an unearned run in the opening frame of the nightcap, and held on for a 1-0 shutout in a game lasting just 1:18 to gain the split.   The Scots out-hit CSS 3-2.

This was the first of five Macalester Metrodome twinbills.  The Scots play a pair with Bethany Lutheran next Tuesday (March 5) at the dome at 8 p.m.

_{Photo abvoe: Nathan Kelleher-Crew lost a tough 1-0 decision in the second game.}