TUCSON, Ariz. – The Macalester College baseball team's bats woke up on Monday, taking down Winona State University 21-20 on a walk off ending in the Tucson Invitational. The game-winning hit came from sophomore Holden Peacock (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid School), capping off a seven-run rally in the ninth inning. The Scots record is now 2-5 on the season as their spring trip continues.
 
Macalester started the high-scoring day in the first inning with a leadoff single from Peacock and a double from junior Stephen Paulsen (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) to bring Peacock to third. After a walk, a ground ball from junior Josh Planko (Northville, Mich./Northville) brought home the first run. A double by Aram Dombalagian (Glenview, Ill./North Shore Country Day School) drove in Paulsen to make the score 2-0
 
After the Warriors equalized in the top of the second inning, the Scots quickly answered with a big rally. Two singles to start the inning from Jake Murakami (Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley) and Evan Kang (Sherman Oaks, Calif./Village Christian) put two on base to be driven in by a triple from Raymond McCaskey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Manitou Springs). After McCaskey scored on a sacrifice fly by Peacock, another two Macalester hitters got on base to create more danger. Dombalagian brought one home with an RBI single before a second triple of the inning, this time by Niko Alexander (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman), added another two runs. Murakami finished off the big inning with an RBI single to drive Alexander in, making the score 7-2 after two innings.
 
Winona State took the lead shortly after, putting up six runs in the third and one in the fourth. Macalester's starting pitcher, sophomore Nick Strezo (San Mateo, Calif.), lasted 2.1 innings, allowing eight earned runs. By the end of the fourth inning, the score was tied up again 9-9. The Scots took another lead 11-9 in the fifth through a Tristan Jones (Fairfield, Conn./Greens Farms Academy) double that drove in two, and held that lead until the seventh inning thanks to 4.0 innings of strong relief pitching by Jacob Posner (Los Angeles, Calif./Alexander Hamilton).
 
Macalester entered the eighth inning down 15-11 but continued to battle offensively. A Planko single and a walk from Dombalagian set up Alexander to bring both in with a 2RBI single. Pinch-hitting for the Scots, Braden LaChapelle (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) got his first hit of the season with an RBI single. Kang brought another run home with a sacrifice fly to make the score 15-14 to the Warriors entering the final inning.  
 
The final inning started poorly for Macalester, as Winona State extended their lead by scoring two before batting into an out. After Tommy Ball (Wayne, Pa./The Shipley School) took the mound in relief, only two more runs scored and the Scots came up to bat down 20-14, needing a big ninth inning to win.
 
Peacock led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk and was immediately brought home by a Paulsen RBI double. After Jones walked, Planko drove in Paulsen and Dombalagian walked to load the bases. After a pitching change from the Warriors and with still no outs in the inning, Alexander came up clutch with a 2 RBI double to bring the Scots within two runs. Pinch-hitter Isaiah Ramirez (Houston, Texas/Northbrook) hit an RBI single to cut the deficit in half, and McCaskey singled to bring home Alexander and tie the game at 20. With runners on first and second base, Peacock came up to bat, having started the inning with a walk and run. A walk off single from Peacock scored Ramirez to complete the Scots comeback in the high-scoring match, 21-20. Ball earned the win on the mound, making his record 1-0.
 
After the walk off win, the Scots will have a day off before facing familiar foes Augsburg University in a non-conference game on Wednesday, Mar. 19 in Tucson, Ariz.