TUCSON, Ariz. – The Macalester College baseball team started the 2016 season with a 7-3 loss to the University of La Verne Saturday night at the Kino Sport Complex. The Scots open the year with a 0-1 record, while the Leopards improve to 12-4.

La Verne scored twice in the top of the fourth and once in the fifth to lead 3-0. Then in the bottom of the sixth, Macalester delivered four straight singles to tie the score at 3-3. Senior Nick Sia (Crofton, Md./South River) led off with an infield single, sophomore Collin Brantner (Farmington, Conn./Kingswood Oxford) followed with a single and sophomore Nick McMullen (Payson, Ariz./Payson) drove in Sia with a single. Senior Sam Berk (Miami, Fla./Palmer Trinity School) completed the comeback with a single that plated both Brantner and McMullen.

The Leopards answered in the top of the seventh with two runs, then added two more in the eighth for a 7-3 advantage. The Scots had runners in scoring position in both the eighth and ninth innings but were unable to capitalize.

Berk, who made the All-MIAC team last year, went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in. Brantner, McMullen and sophomore Ben Castagnetti (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) each had two hits in the loss. Junior right-hander Joseph Aulisi (McLean, Va./Langley) started on the mound and allowed three runs on five hits and six walks in five innings of work. First year Cole Chang (Pleasantville, N.Y./Collegiate School) tossed a scoreless inning of relief and fanned two.

Andrew Douglas drove in three runs and walked three times to lead the Leopards.

Macalester continues its Arizona trip with a doubleheader against Southern Vermont College on Sunday, Mar. 13, beginning at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time.