ST. PAUL – What started as a good day didn't end well for the University of Northwestern baseball team on Tuesday, but the Eagles salvaged a split with Macalester College at Reynolds Field. UNW won the first battle 5-4 before falling to the Scots 11-3 in the nightcap.

Northwestern scored some runs early in the first game, but found itself playing a tie ballgame in the sixth inning. Erik Nyquist (Elk River, Minn./Pine Island) was cruising throughout the first few innings from the mound, notching four strikeouts in the first two frames compared to one walk.

Braxton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls) scored twice in the first affair, the first of which came after a leadoff bunt single. With Lindow on third, Tyler Osborn (Clive, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) brought in UNW's first run on a sacrifice fly to right field. Matt Doss (Pillager, Minn./Pillager) scored in the second on Tucker Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool)'s chopper single in the infield, and Taylor McMurray (Vadnais Heights, Minn./Totino-Grace) came home two batters later, helping the Eagles lead 3-0 after two complete innings.

Walks were an issue for both of Macalester's pitchers -- starter Jamie Progebin and Griffen Gallagher --  as both issued free consecutive moments that allowed UNW to score runners.

The Scots got on the board with an RBI double in the fifth as Nyquist cracked for the first time on the hill. Tom Forster then went deep over the right field fence for a two-run home run to put his team within one. MAC wasn't finished, as a double down the right field line in the sixth made it a 4-4 tie game as Nyquist yielded the mound to Benjamin Jenney (Albertville, Minn./Maranatha Christian), who got his only batter, Alex Baretta, to fly out to end the frame with runners on first and second.

McMurray picked up his second RBI of the game in the bottom of the sixth, scoring Lindow from first on a deep single. Jenney, now with a one-run lead, pitched a nearly spotless seventh, receiving a 4-6-3 double play from his defense to end the game with the Eagles on top.

Northwestern only had five hits in the game, but made up for it with seven walks. Unfortunately, that trend of hitting continued to go south in what would result in an eight-run loss when the lights turned on.

Eagles starter Nathan Ehnstrom (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) had a rough beginning in his first collegiate start on the mound. Ehnstrom, who entered the game with had three and two-thirds innings of work in three games this season, gave up three runs in both the first and second frames. The freshman settled down in the middle innings of the scheduled seven-inning bout before Jonathan Ellis took over for a two-inning stint in the fifth. The gloom continued for UNW with Ellis on the mound, as Macalester's Peter Bertel hit a two-run home run to left field before the Eagles could record an out as Northwestern looked up at a 9-0 deficit.

Macalester added another run in the sixth to put its run total into double digits before UNW was able to score its first run in the bottom half of the inning. Matt Doss (Pillager, Minn./Pillager) beat out a throw on an infield hit to score McMurray, but that would be all the Eagles would get as Bertel worked some magic with his glove too, diving to rob John Hietpas (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) of assured RBIs in a deep fly to left field with the bases loaded and two outs.

Porter Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) took to the mound for his collegiate debut in the seventh, allowing a run to score to make it 11-1 in favor of the Scots. UNW head coach Dave Hieb pinch hit nearly his entire lineup in the bottom half of the frame, when Michael Brooks (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) used a double down the right field line to score two runs to account for Northwestern's final run total. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the run of pinch hitters ended on a double play to end the game.

Ehnstrom was charged with the loss as the black-topped UNW squad was once again out-hit, this time 12-6. Five defensive errors didn't help Northwestern's cause; the Eagles have committed 69 errors in the field in 2015.

Hieb's crew will get a couple days of practice in before resuming its UMAC schedule this weekend at home against Crown College. Northwestern will start the three-game series with a 6 p.m. game on Friday evening before playing Games 2 and 3 on Saturday starting at 12 noon.