Tucson, Ariz. – The Macalester College baseball team played its eighth game of the 2022 season today in Arizona. The Scots' comeback was stopped short by the Cardinals of Wesleyan University, falling 7-6. The Scots are now 1-7 for the spring.
 
The Cardinals started the game with four runs in the first. The Scots would answer back in the second with two of their own. First year Bowman Wingard (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) hit a double to bring home fellow first year Hayes Waddell (North Hampton, N.H./Winnacunnet). Senior Anthony Palma (Mooresville, N.C./Lake Norman) advanced to second based off a Cardinals error to score Wingard. Then in the third, senior Michael Moreno (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) registered Macalester's third run of the game, after junior Kenny Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y./George School) hit a sacrifice fly. After three innings, the Scots only trailed by one, 4-3.
 
The fourth and fifth saw both teams score runs. The Cardinals hit a two-run home run at the top of the fourth inning while Palma was scored off junior Joe Margolis (Chicago, Ill./Jones College Prep). In the fifth, sophomore Matt Mukai's (Foster City, Calif./Aragon) double brought home Rodriguez and first year Jake Murakami (Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley) plated Mukai. This concluded the scoring for the game, with the Cardinals taking the game 7-6.
 
The Scots were strong on the mound this afternoon. Junior Declan Elias (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius) struck out 10 batters, including two of the three batters faced in the second. Fellow junior Peter Aspholm (Winthrop, Wash./Liberty Bell) came in and faced 18 batters, striking out eight and only facing three batters in three of his five innings.
 
The Scots' final games in Arizona will be Saturday March 19. Macalester will play Kalamazoo at 11:00 a.m. CDT and Concordia-Wisconsin at 2:30 p.m. CDT.