SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus baseball team opened MIAC play Sunday with a split against Macalester. The Gusties won game one 5-3 and lost the second 6-5, moving to 9-5 overall and 1-1 in the league.
Gustavus 5, Macalester 3 | Box Score
After three scoreless innings, Macalester scored a run in the fourth on a solo home run over the center field fence. The Scots gained a 2-0 lead in the fifth on another solo shot, this time to left-center.
The Gusties answered in the sixth with three runs on four hits. Matt Berkner (Sr., Sleepy Eye, Minn.) plated a run with a bases-loaded walk, followed by an RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Jack Hanson (Fy., Minnetonka, Minn.). Sam Archer (Sr., Zimmerman, Minn.) scored the third run on an Ethan Mocchi (So., Champlin, Minn.) single up the middle.
Gustavus tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh as Berkner hit a two-run single to left field. Macalester was able to get one back in the bottom half on another solo home run, which ended Adam Stockwell’s (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.) day on the mound. Stockwell struck out seven and allowed five hits. Damon Rademacher (So., Princeton, Minn.) came in relief and got a pair of strikeouts to pick up his fourth save of the season.
Carter Clemensen (So., Cologne, Minn.) (2-4, 2 R) and Archer (2-4, R) led the team at the plate.
Gustavus 5, Macalester 6 | Box Score
The Scots took a 2-0 advantage in the third inning and were able to stave off a number of rallies by the Gusties.
Macalester went up 3-0 in the fourth before the Gusties answered in the fifth as Clemensen doubled to right center, allowing Brice Panning (Jr., Hamburg, Minn.) to score from first base. The Black and Gold cut the lead to one in the sixth on an RBI single by Dexter Leer (Sr., Owatonna, Minn.), but the game-tying run was stranded on second base.
Christian Johnson (So., Buffalo, Minn.) pitched into the sixth inning with 11 strikeouts for the second time in as many starts, but was taken out of the game with one out and one on. Gavyn Walsh (So., Andover, Minn.) came in relief and got out of the inning without allowing a run.
The Scots tacked on three insurance runs in the seventh for a 6-2 lead after a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and a costly two-out error that allowed two runs to score.
Gustavus did not go quietly as it got two runs back in the eighth. Mocchi led off the inning with a double and was brought home on another double by Leer. Leer later scored on a throwing error but the Scots got out of the jam to keep a two-run lead.
After a three-up-three-down eighth by Rademacher in relief, the Gusties were in position to tie the game in the ninth as Hanson blasted his first career home run over the left-center fence followed by a Mocchi double down the left field line. But the Scots were able to end the game after getting the base runner in a pickle for the final out.
Johnson suffered the loss after 5.1 innings. Cole Pengilly (So., Le Sueur, Minn.) (2-4, 2B, SAC), Mocchi (2-4, 2 R, 2 2B, HBP), and Leer (2-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B) paced the offense.
Gustavus next hosts Northwestern-St. Paul at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in a non-conference doubleheader.