COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The Macalester College baseball team battled Saint John's University in the first MIAC doubleheader of the season Friday at Becker Park. The Scots had two solid pitching performances but came up short, 3-0 and 2-0 to fall to 4-10 overall. The Johnnies improve to 12-7 on the season.  

In the first game, Saint John's scored single runs in the first, second and fourth innings to lead, 3-0. Macalester struggled to get baserunners off Johnnies' pitcher Connor Hartley, managing singles in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings. Junior Stephen Paulsen (Middleton, Wis./Middleton), who singled in the fourth and seventh innings, moved to third on back-to-back grounders but a third grounder to the shortstop ended the threat and the game.

Senior pitcher Cam Scholl (Belmont, Calif./Carlmont) had a solid outing, allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out three and walking one over six innings. Junior Josh Planko (Northville, Mich./Northville) had the other hit for the Scots. Hartley tossed a three-hit shutout with three strikeouts.

The second game was more of the same, as the Scots totaled four hits over nine innings. Saint John's scored a run in the fourth and another in the eighth, then turned it over to pitchers Will Fazio and Carter Theisen for the shutout. Planko, juniors Tristan Jones (Fairfield, Conn./Greens Farms Academy) and Raymond McCaskey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Manitou Springs), and sophomore Braden LaChappelle (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) had the hits for Macalester.

On the mound, junior Ben King (Chicago, Ill./Whitney M. Young Magnet) held the Johnnies to one run on four hits while striking out four and walking none over five innings of work. Senior Ben Levinson (Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) allowed a run on four hits in 2 2/3 innings of relief.

Macalester is scheduled to play a non-conference game at the University of Northwestern on Monday, Mar. 31. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m. in Roseville, Minn.