ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College baseball team hosted Concordia College in the Scots' home opener Wednesday at Nicholson Field. Macalester totaled 22 hits and 12 runs but lost both games, 11-5 and 17-7 to fall to 6-13 overall and 1-5 in the conference. The Cobbers are now 10-10 overall and 2-4 in league play.

In the first game, the Scots answered a Concordia run in the top of the first inning with two runs in the bottom of the first. Junior Josh Planko (Northville, Mich./Northville) doubled to score sophomore Holden Peacock (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid School), then sophomore Braden LaChapelle (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) singled to bring home Planko for a 2-1 lead. After the Cobbers pushed a run across in the top of the third to tie the game, Macalester regained the upper hand on a sacrifice fly by junior Niko Alexander (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) that allowed Peacock to score the go-ahead run. Again Concordia answered with two runs in the top of the fourth to lead 4-3, only to have the Scots tie the score in the bottom of the fourth on a single by Planko that brought home junior Raymond McCaskey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Manitou Springs).

The Cobbers broke the game open in the top of the fifth with four runs for an 8-4 advantage. Macalester got a run back in the bottom of the sixth when first year Aram Dombalagian (Glenview, Ill./North Shore Country Day School) scored on an error. Still in the sixth, the Scots loaded the bases, but a strikeout ended the inning and the threat. Concordia added three runs in the top of the seventh, then got out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh with a strikeout and a groundout to end the game.

Planko went 3-for-3 with a double, a run and two runs batted in, while Alexander had two hits and two RBIs.

In Game 2, Macalester answered two runs by the Cobbers in the top of the first with three runs in the bottom of the first. Sophomore Isaiah Ramirez (Houston, Texas/Northbrook) singled home Peacock, then Alexander delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded to plate Planko and Ramirez for a 3-2 lead. Concordia notched five runs in the top of the second and another in the third for a commanding 8-3 advantage. In the bottom of the fifth, Ramirez singled to score junior Stephen Paulsen (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) from second base to make it a four-run lead, 8-4. After the Cobbers scored two runs in the top of the sixth, Paulsen hit a bases-loaded single to bring home McCaskey and Alexander to make the score 10-6. But that's as close as the Scots would get, as Concordia scored two runs in the seventh and five more in the eighth to clinch the win.

Alexander went 3-for-4 at the plate with a run and two RBIs. Paulsen, Ramirez, Dombalagian and junior Evan Kang (Sherman Oaks, Calif./Village Christian) each had two hits, as the Scots compiled 13 hits in Game 2.

Macalester plays another MIAC doubleheader on Thursday, April 10 at Augsburg University. The first game starts at 2:30 p.m. at Parade Stadium in Minneapolis.