ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College baseball team hosted Carleton College in a MIAC doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at Nicholson Field, winning the first game, 7-1 before seeing a late comeback fall short in Game 2, 14-13. The Scots are now 7-16 overall, including a 2-8 mark in the conference. The Knights are now 8-12 overall and 1-8 in the MIAC.

Macalester struck first in the first game, loading the bases in the bottom of the second inning on a catcher's interference and two walks. Junior Tristan Jones (Fairfield, Conn./Greens Farms Academy) delivered a sacrifice fly to right field to plate first year Aram Dombalagian (Glenview, Ill./North Shore Country Day School) with the first run of the game. In the bottom of the third, the Scots generated another run without a hit. Sophomore Holden Peacock (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid School) led off with a walk, junior Raymond McCaskey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Manitou Springs) was hit by a pitch, and sophomore Isaiah Ramirez (Houston, Texas/Northbrook) moved them to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Junior Josh Planko (Northville, Mich./Northville) hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Peacock for a 2-0 lead.

After Carleton scored a run in the top of the fourth, Macalester answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth for a 4-1 lead. Peacock brought home junior Nathan Gumagay (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill) from third with a bunt, then McCaskey doubled to score Jones. In the bottom of the sixth, the Scots pushed three runs across on four hits and an error to lead, 7-1. Junior Stephen Paulsen (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) came home on an error and Planko hit a two-run single to plate McCaskey and Peacock.

Senior righty Cam Scholl (Belmont, Calif./Carlmont) went the distance, holding Carleton to one run on three hits while fanning three and walking one in seven innings of work. The performance lowered his league-leading earned run average to 1.35 while improving his record to 4-3. Planko drove in three runs, and Peacock scored twice in the win.

Momentum stayed with Macalester early in Game 2, as Planko singled home Peacock in the bottom of the first for a 1-0 lead. The Knights scored twice in the second and one run in the third to lead 3-1. In the bottom of the third, Dombalagian drove in Peacock with a grounder, then Planko plated McCaskey to tie the score at 3-3. Carleton regained the lead with three runs in the top of the fourth, with the Scots getting a run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Dombalagian that made the score 6-4.

In the top of the fifth inning, the Knights broke the game open with five runs on three hits and two errors to take a commanding 11-4 advantage. Macalester picked away at the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single from Paulsen and a bases-loaded walk by McCaskey to make the score 11-6. After Carleton tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh, Paulsen smashed a solo homer to left field in the bottom of the seventh. Then in the eighth, a long single by junior Niko Alexander (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) brought home Planko, sophomore Braden LaChapelle (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) scored from third on a wild pitch, and Peacock plated Alexander with a single to make the score 13-10 heading into the ninth. Carleton added an insurance run in the top of the ninth, which proved to be key as Alexander belted a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to make it a one-run game, 14-13. Dombalagian and Planko singled to start the ninth.

With Macalester down to its last out, senior Jake Murakami (Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley), Paulsen and Peacock drew walks to load the bases. But McCaskey hit a fly ball to left that was caught, ending the threat and the game. The Scots registered 21 hits in the game, which is the team's second-most hits in a game this season behind a 22-hit performance against Winona State on Mar. 17.

Planko went 4-for-5 with a double, two runs and two RBIs, with Peacock delivering three hits and scoring two runs. Sophomore Caleb Chou-Green (San Francisco, Calif./Peddie School) pitched the final 2 2/3 innings, giving up one run on four hits.

Next up for the Scots is a pair of games against Hamline University on Saturday, April 19. The first game starts at 1:00 p.m. at Nicholson Field.