COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The Macalester College baseball team split a MIAC doubleheader against Hamline University, winning 3-2 and losing 5-4 in eight innings Saturday night at Saint John's  University's Becker Park. The Scots are now 13-8 overall and 3-1 in the conference, while the Pipers are 9-11, 2-2 MIAC.

In the first game, Macalester to a 1-0 lead on a RBI single by senior Nick McMullen (Payson, Ariz./Payson) that plated junior Jared Abelson (Herndon, Va./South Lakes) in the bottom of the first inning. Hamline answered with a pair of runs in the top of the second, including a run on a triple by Elliot Engen, for a 2-1 lead. Senior Ben Castagnetti (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) led off the bottom of the second with a triple and came home on a bunt by sophomore Carl Francalangia (West Hartford, Conn./Loomis-Chaffee School) to tie the score at 2-2.

In the bottom of the fourth, Francalangia scored from second base on a two-out single by Baretta for a 3-2 lead. The Pipers advanced a runner to second base in the fifth and seventh innings but were unable to get the key hit off sophomore pitcher Matthew Plisko (Alpharetta, Ga./Pace Academy). Plisko went the distance, allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits while striking out four and walking three to improve to 6-1 on the season. Abelson and Baretta each had a pair of hits in the win.

Macalester took control of Game 2 with two runs in the second and another in the third for a 3-0 lead. Junior Graham Low (Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) led off the second with a solo home run, his fourth of the season. Abelson singled home junior Sam Goldberg (N. Potomac, Md./Thomas S. Wootton) later in the third, and senior Collin Brantner (Farmington, Conn./Kingswood Oxford) scored on a single by Castagnetti in the third. With two out in the top of the fourth, Hamline scored a run on its first hit of the game to make the score 3-1. Brantner restored the Scots' three-run lead with a single that plated Baretta in the bottom of the fifth.

In the top of the sixth, the Pipers broke through with three runs, including a two-run, two-out single by Nolan Schoonveld with the bases loaded, to tie the game at 4-4. The game would go to extra innings, where Hamline would score a run in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Jake Dujmovic that brought home Cullen Buck with the go-ahead run.

Senior lefty Joe Trier (Madison, Wis./Madison West) gave up a run on just one hit while walking six and fanning five in five innings of work. Junior Zach Anderson (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Twp.) pitched the final three innings and took the loss. Hamline reliever Zach Smith pitched three scoreless innings and struck out six batters to earn the win.

Macalester plays another MIAC doubleheader on Sunday, Apr. 22 against Saint John's, beginning at 2:00 p.m. at Becker Park.