RIPON, Wis. — The Lawrence University baseball team took the opener on Saturday at Ripon College, and the Red Hawks rallied late to secure a split of the Midwest Conference doubleheader at Francis Field.
Lawrence (4-12, 2-2 MWC) won the first game 8-7, and Ripon (10-8, 2-2) took the nightcap 16-8.
In the opener, Davide Harris, Gabe Henriques, Joel Birch, Phil Wisniewski and Darvis PridGeon all had two hits for the Vikings. Birch drove in three runs, and Harris and Henriques drove in two runs apiece.
Phil Clark won the game in relief of starter Davis Ogilvie, and Alex Brewer pitched the final two innings for his first save of the season. Zach Lauterbach lasted only 3 1/3 innings and took the loss.
Lawrence jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first when Eric Bohling and Birch both delivered run-scoring singles. Lawrence made it 4-0 in the top of the second when Harris delivered a run-scoring triple, and Henriques followed with a RBI single.
Ripon cut the lead to 4-2 with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning, but Lawrence then struck for four runs in the top of the fourth. Harris and Henriques both had run-scoring singles, and Birch later came through with a two-run single to give Lawrence an 8-2 lead.
Ripon scored twice in its half of the fourth and two more times in the fifth to cut the lead to 8-6. The Red Hawks scored a run in the eighth to cut the lead to 8-7, but Henriques threw another runner out at the plate to preserve the advantage. Brewer then retired the side in order in the ninth for the save.
In the nightcap, Eric Schumacher went 3-for-5 and drove in four runs to pace Ripon, and Kyle Bosquez was 3-for-4, scored five runs and drove in three.
Tyler Ketz picked up the win by throwing seven innings of relief. Starter T.J. Pierce walked six batters in the first two-plus innings before he was replaced. Clark took the loss in relief for Lawrence.
Harris and Jake Gordon both went 2-for-4 to pace Lawrence’s offense.
Ripon led 4-0 after the opening inning, but Lawrence battled back with two runs in the second, including one on Gordon’s run-scoring single. Lawrence then scored three times in the third without a hit to tie the game at 5-5. Ripon walked four batters in the inning and uncorked a wild pitch.
Ripon grabbed the lead back with two runs in the fifth, but Lawrence scored twice in the top of the sixth with a RBI double from Harris to tie it at 7-7. Ripon countered with two more runs in the bottom of the seventh, but Lawrence cut the lead to 9-8 on Bohling’s sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth.
Ripon then exploded for seven runs on seven hits in the bottom of the eighth to finally put the game away.