Pipers split with Edgewood

A 10:00 p.m. start to the opening game, with Hamline set as the home team, found Hamline and Edgewood tied at 5-5 through the fourth inning before Edgewood put up a six-run fifth inning on four hits and two Piper errors.

Hamline countered with a run in the bottom of the fifth when Dan Kaczrowski (Jr., St. Anthony, Minn.) hit a lead-off triple and then scored on a single from Jayden Grupe (Sr., Trimont, Minn.).

The Pipers' rally attempt continued in the bottom of the seventh, as they capitalized on two Edgewood errors and four hits to score four runs. Kaczrowski reached first on an error, and then advanced to second on the second of the Edgewood errors in the inning. He was then advanced to third on another Grupe single. Andrew Bennett's (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) three-run homerun to left field then brought the Pipers to within two runs.

Ben Smith (Jr., Orono, Minn.) doubled to right field and came home on a two-out RBI single from Lincoln Hughes (So., Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) for the final Piper run of the game.

In the 11-10 loss in game one, Kaczrowski went three-for-four form the plate with four runs scored, while Grupe, Bennett and Smith each had two hits.

The second game, which begin at 12:45 on Sunday morning, finished at 3:45 a.m. after the clocks jumped ahead one hour due to daylight savings time.

Hamline jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second, as this time it was the Pipers who capitalized on errors to score runs, tallying five runs on one hit and five Edgewood errors.

The third innings saw the Piper bats come alive as they added seven more runs to the board on eight hits and no errors, stranding just one runner. After Smith flew out to left field, the next seven Piper batters singled, and when Smith's turn came around in the batting order once again, he produced the eighth Hamline single, and hit, in the inning.

Edgewood put up four runs in the bottom of the fourth, and added one more in the fifth, but Hamline added four more in the top of the sixth to win the game 16-5.

Andrew Beltosky (So., Minneapolis, Minn.) earned the win, going four innings in the start, upping his record to 2-0. Andrew Seymour (Sr., Sandstone, Minn.) threw the final three innings of the game, giving up just three hits and one run.

Kaczrowski went 3-for-5 from the plate in game two, while Tres Humerickhouse (Fy., Farmington, Minn.), Hughes, and Skip Fuller (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn.) each scored three runs. Kaczrowski, Grupe, Smith, Fuller and Tony Rogers (Fy., Elk River, Minn.) each had two RBI.

The Pipers are now 3-4, 0-0 MIAC, and will head to Phoenix, Arizona this weekend to play a week of non-conference competition over spring break.