ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Marys' and Macalester baseball teams entered Friday's conference doubleheader on opposite ends of the offensive spectrum.
 
The Cardinals headed into the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on the heels of managing just four runs in dropping both ends of a twinbill against Bethel two days earlier.
 
The Scots, meanwhile, were fresh off a 35-run barrage in a sweep of Carleton, routing the Knights 22-2 in the first game and 13-3 in the nightcap on Wednesday afternoon.
 
And when the dust finally settled, Macalester had once again flexed its offensive muscles, uncorking four home runs — including three by Charlie Burton — in dealing Saint Mary's a pair of MIAC setbacks, 5-3 and 10-4, at Nicholson Field.
 
GAME 1: HAUNTED BY THE LONG BALL
Macalester struck first, scratching across a solo run on a lead-off single and a one-out double in the bottom of the first, Charlie Burton launched a solo home run in in the second to push the Scots' lead to 2-0.
 
The Scots didn't get to savor that two-run cushion for long, however, as Saint Mary's pushed across a pair of two-out runs in the third. Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) kick-started the two-out rally with a single and promptly stole second. Riley Bauman (Stratford, Wis.) and Mason Coyle (Mason City, Wis.) both walked, and Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) delivered a two-run single through the left side to pull the Cardinals even, 2-2.
 
Both teams plated fourth-inning runs, before the Scots sealed the Game 1 victory with a two-run sixth — with both runs coming on Burton's second home run of the game, a two-run one-out blast.
 
Schork, VanEgtern, Weber, and Brandon Merfeld (La Crosse, Wis.) accounted for Saint Mary's four hits in the opener, including a double by Schork.
 
GAME 2: SCOTS TURN UP OFFENSIVE HEAT
For the second game in a row, the Scots jumped out to a 2-0 lead, this time scoring twice in the bottom of the first — thanks to their third home run of the afternoon, this one a two-shot off the bat of Nate Odom.
 
Saint Mary's sliced the lead in half in the third, when Weber collected a one-out single and Merfeld laced a run-scoring triple to right, and tied the game, 2-2 on a Noah Lahner (Waukesha, Wis.) single in the fourth.
 
As quickly as the Cardinals tied it, however, the Scots untied it, getting a two-run double off the bat of Hayes Waddell to regain the upper hand, 4-2. Macalester would add four more runs in the sixth — including Burton's third home run of the day — to push its lead to 8-2.
 
Saint Mary's got two runs back in the top of the seventh, scoring once when VanEgtern was hit by a pitch with the bases load and the other on a bases-loaded walk to Brinton Anderson (Pulaski, Wis.), only to have Macalester answer with solo runs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings to extend its lead to 10-4.
 
Weber was the offensive leader in Game 2, going 3-for-5 with a run scored. The junior was the only Cardinal with more than one hit, as six other players accounted for the other six SMU hits.
 
The Cardinals (2-8 MIAC, 6-1 overall) return home to Max Molock Field on Tuesday, when they play host to Concordia in a pair of MIAC contests. First pitch in Game 1 is slated for 1 p.m.
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