ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College baseball team bounced back from a 5-0 defeat in the first game to beat Hamline University, 9-4 in Game 2 of a MIAC doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Nicholson Field. The results give the Scots on overall record of 8-19, including a 3-11 mark in the conference. The Pipers are now 6-25, 1-11 MIAC.

In the first game, Hamline scored a run in the second inning, two in the third and two more in the fourth to lead, 5-0. The big blow came in the third, when Finn Melchior hit a two-run home run. Macalester put runners in scoring position in four of the seven innings but were unable to get the key hit off Parker Leipzig, who tossed a four-hit shutout. Junior Nathan Gumagay (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill) had two of the Scots' hits, while senior Ben Levinson (Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) and sophomore Jack Nussbaum (Brunswick, Maine/Thornton Academy) kept Hamline off the scoreboard over the final three innings.

Macalester got off to a better start in Game 2, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. With two out, first year Aram Dombalagian (Glenview, Ill./North Shore Country Day School) singled home sophomore Isaiah Ramirez (Houston, Texas/Northbrook), and Dombalagian and junior Josh Planko (Northville, Mich./Northville) scored on a fielding error for a 3-0 lead. After Hamline scored twice in the top of the second, first year Tristan Lander (West Chester, Pa./B. Reed Henderson) hit a sacrifice fly to plate Planko to lead, 4-2. The Pipers scored another run in the top of the fourth, then Ramirez drove in junior Stephen Paulsen (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 5-3 Scots. Hamline added another run in the top of the sixth to pull within one, 5-4.

In the bottom of the seventh, senior Jake Murakami (Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley) belted a two-run single to score Lander and Dombalagian with a pair of insurance runs. After junior pitcher Tommy Ball (Wayne, Pa./The Shipley School) got out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the eighth, Planko stepped up and crushed a two-run homer to left to give Macalester a 9-4 advantage. Ball closed out the game in the top of the ninth to record his first save, as the Scots bounced back to earn the split.

Planko and Dombalagian each had three hits in the win, with Planko scoring three runs. Paulsen and sophomore Holden Peacock (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid School) added two hits apiece. Senior pitcher Jacob Posner (Los Angeles, Calif./Alexander Hamilton) came on in relief and held the Pipers to two runs on four hits over 3 2/3 innings for the win.

Macalester steps out of conference play to host UW-Superior for a single game on Monday, April 21. The first pitch is set for 2:00 p.m. at Nicholson Field.