TOPEKA, Kan. – The Macalester College baseball team travelled south to Bettis Complex in Kansas today to open its season in a double-header against Loras College. The Duhawks took the first game 6-5, but the Scots rallied in the second to win 10-6. Both teams are 1-1 to start the year now.
Loras had a strong start to the first game. Senior pitcher
Ben King (Chicago, Ill./Whitney M. Young Magnet) gave up a walk and plunked two to put runners in scoring position. All it took was a deep pop to right field for two runs to score, but King ended it there, striking out the next three batters to close out the top of the first. He did not give up another run in his five innings on the mound.
From there, neither team could score. Both teams posted multiple innings with three straight outs. Finally, in the bottom of the sixth, the Scots broke the seal. Senior
Stephen Paulsen (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) walked, then advanced to third off a single from senior
Raymond McCaskey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Manitou Springs). The Duhawks subbed out their pitcher, but it didn't do them any good: first-year
J McMurray (Washington, D.C./Sidwell Friends) banged a double out to left field to send Paulsen and McCaskey home.
Loras answered with a pair of runs at the top of the seventh, but Macalester would not rest. Senior
Nathan Gumagay (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill) singled and advanced to second off an error that allowed senior
Tristan Jones (Fairfield, Conn./Greens Farms) to reach first. Then, McCaskey batted Gumagay home and Jones to second, and McMurray tied the game up with a single to send Jones home. McCaskey reached third, McMurray stole second and junior
Holden Peacock (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid School) walked, but they got stranded on a ground out to leave the game tied 4-4.
Neither team managed any runs in the eighth, but Loras notched a pair in the second that proved fatal for the Scots. While Paulsen's lead-off triple looked promising, the Scots got him home but couldn't nail the equalizer, giving Loras the narrow victory.
In Game 2, it looked like Loras might run away with the sweep after the first inning. McCaskey singled, then stole a base, then came home off a Peacock single in the top of the first before the Duhawks rattled off three outs. Then, Loras scored five straight runs in the bottom of the inning, punctuated with a three-run home run.
Paulsen batted McMurray home in the top of the third, but Loras looked secure in its 5-2 lead through the first six innings. Then, in the top of the seventh, the Scots flipped the game on its head. Senior
Josh Planko (Northville, Mich./Northville) doubled and
Bobby Munoz (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica) singled. Then, McCaskey hit a double to send Planko home. Junior
Braden Lachapelle (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) grounded out but brought Munoz across the plate in the process, and finally, McMurray reached on a fielder's choice to send McCaskey home and tie the game.
Up against the wall, Loras college scored at the bottom of the eighth to take the lead. Up 6-5, looking for an identical result to their first game, the Duhawks took the Scots' first two batters out. Then, Paulsen walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With a runner in scoring position and the game on the line, senior
Niko Alexander (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) came to the plate. He pounded a single to left field, and Paulsen came home. Gumagay got plunked on the next at-bat, but Loras survived with a strikeout to keep the game 6-6.
Despite putting runners on first and second, Loras failed to score in the bottom of the ninth, so the game went to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, the Scots had their best inning of the day. With two runners in scoring position, sophomore
Tristan Lander (West Chester, Pa./B. Reed Henderson) banged a single to give Mac the 7-6 lead. Paulsen pounded a sacrifice fly to bring Lander home. Alexander bombed another single to get Lachapelle across the plate, and McMurray scored the game's final run off a wild pitch. The Duhawks couldn't match the Scots in the bottom of the 10th, handing Mac its first victory of the year.
Loras and Macalester will rematch one more time tomorrow, Feb. 21, at 11 a.m. in Topeka, Kan.
Macalester 5, Loras 6
Macalester 10, Loras 6
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