ST. PAUL, Minn. - In the third and final game of the series, the Hamline baseball team (6-13, 3-5 MIAC) fell to Macalester (5-8, 5-8 MIAC) 9-8 in a nine-inning game that went back-and-forth throughout. The Pipers held a 7-6 lead after the top of the seventh, but Macalester would outscore HU 3-1 in the final two and a half innings to get their second win in the three-game series.
For the third straight game the Pipers had plenty of baserunners, with nine hits and 10 walks throughout the contest. Junior
Cullen Buck and first year
Mac Enlow each had two hits and two walks apiece, and Enlow drove in a team-high three runs.
First year
Braden Schneider started on the mound for HU, going the first four innings, giving up four runs on five fits and three walks while striking out four.
Jonah Smallfield pitched next, followed by
Max Gerstner, who each gave up one run.
Elijah Erickson came in next, giving up three runs and eventually taking the loss.
Hayden Ring pitched the final 0.1 inning, giving up one hit, but not allowing any runs.
The Pipers had an early chance to score in the game as Buck led off with a walk and stole second, but Macalester stranded him and would then use two walks and an RBI-single in the bottom of the inning to lead 2-0.
Hamline got one of those runs back in the top of the second as first year
Colin Schuetz reached on an error, stole second, was bunted over to third, and was driven in by a sacrifice fly from
Colton Peters.
A double for the Scots in the third would get a run across, extending their lead to 3-1. The teams traded runs in the fourth, making it 4-2 after four complete.
Enlow would tie the game for the Pipers in the fifth, hitting a two-run homer to left center, but Macalester took the lead right back with a run in the bottom of the inning.
A sacrifice bunt from
Stephen Schmidt in the sixth tied the game at five, but the Scots would once again answer using two hits to get a run in to make it 6-5.
Both teams scored twice in the seventh, with Enlow hitting another homer (a solo shot this time) and Zach Langton driving in
Braeden Bourne, who had doubled earlier in the inning. Three hits and a Piper error led to MAC's two runs, as HU trailed 8-7 heading into the final two innings.
Hamline left the bases loaded in the eighth, and Macalester got an additional run across in the bottom of the inning, making it 9-7. The Pipers had a good chance to tie it up in the ninth, but would only score one, once again leaving the bases loaded.
The Pipers will take a short break from conference play this week, hosting Minnesota Morris on Tuesday and heading to UW-Superior on Wednesday. They will return to MIAC play this weekend with a three-game series with Augsburg.
