ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Macalester College baseball team totaled 26 runs and 29 hits to defeat UW-Superior, 7-5 and 19-8 in the home opener Wednesday afternoon at Nicholson Field. The results give the Scots a 10-6 record as they prepare to begin MIAC play on Sunday, while the Yellowjackets fall to 2-9.

Macalester wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard in its first home game of the season, scoring twice in the bottom of the first inning. Junior Nick McMullen (Payson, Ariz./Payson) singled to score junior Alex Baretta (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic), then came home on a double by senior Quentin Stuart (Nashville, Ind./Nashville). In the third, McMullen hit a two-run home run, his first of the season, for a 4-0 lead. After Braeden Barr homered in the top of the fourth, Baretta hit a two-run double and first year Alex Bearden (St. Louis, Mo./Mary Institute Country Day) plated sophomore Sam Goldberg (North Potomac, Md./Thomas S. Wootton) to make the score 7-1. The Yellowjackets scored twice in the fifth and Nick McNosky hit a two-run home run in the sixth to close the gap to 7-5. But McMullen closed out the game on the mound, retiring the final four batters for the save.

First year pitcher Matthew Plisko (Alpharetta, Ga./Pace Academy) allowed one run on three hits while striking out seven and walking four in four innings to earn the win. Baretta went 3-for-3 with two doubles and a triple, while McMullen and sophomore Jared Abelson (Herndon, Va./South Lakes) contributed two hits apiece.

The Scots struck first in Game 2 as well, with McMullen driving in Abelson with a double in the bottom of the first. But UW-Superior batted around in the second, scoring seven runs on six hits and one error to take a commanding 7-1 lead. Travis Miller hit a two-run homer in the inning. Junior Ben Castagnetti (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) homered in the second and third innings, while senior Peter Bertel (Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest) doubled home Stuart in the second, as Macalester trailed 7-4.

After the Yellowjackets added a run in the top of the fourth, the Scots exploded for 11 runs on eight hits in the bottom of the fourth to take over the game, 15-8. Macalester sent 17 batters to the plate in the inning, with Baretta hitting a three-run home run and Stuart blasting a grand slam. Castagnetti, Abelson and McMullen also drove in runs. In the sixth, sophomore Graham Low (Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) singled home a pair of runs, and first year Ryan Bremseth-Vining (Belle Plaine, Minn./Belle Plaine) delivered a bases-loaded, two-run double to make the score 19-8. The double was Bremseth-Vining's first collegiate hit.

Castagnetti, McMullen and Stuart each had three hits in the game, with McMullen totaling six runs batted in on the day. Sophomore Zach Anderson (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Twp.) earned the win, allowing an unearned run on six hits in 3 1/3 innings of relief. Senior Sam Thomas (Kansas City, Mo./Pembroke Hill) tossed two scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

The Scots play their first MIAC doubleheader of the season on Sunday, Apr. 2 against Concordia College. The first game starts at 1:30 p.m. at Nicholson Field.