WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Ripon's two games against St. Olaf on Thursday couldn't have been much closer. The Red Hawks lost the first game 3-2 in eight innings, before dropping game two, 3-1.

In the day's first game, Ripon (3-6) took an early lead when Dakotah Kirchenwitz crossed the plate on a passed ball in the bottom of the first inning. That's where the score would remain until the seventh inning, as Patrick Van Daalwyk allowed just two hits through the first six innings. He ran into his first trouble of the game in the top of the seventh, when St. Olaf (2-4) pushed across the tying run to send it into extra innings.

In the eighth, St. Olaf scored on an RBI single and a run-scoring double, to take their first lead of the game. Ripon rallied in the bottom of that frame, scoring on a fielding error, but that's as close as they could get, ending the game with runners on first and second.

Ripon's five hits came from five different players. Van Daalwyk (0-1) suffered the loss, despite allowing three runs on seven hits, while striking out eight and walking none in 7.1 innings of work.

The second game, like the first, was a pitching duel. Also like the first, Ripon scored first, breaking a scoreless tie in the fourth inning when Nick Uhen drove in Nick Kita with an RBI single. St. Olaf answered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, scoring runs on a single, a double, and a triple. That would be all the runs they would need, as Ripon managed just four hits in the final three innings.

Kirchenwitz, Josh Oswald, and Robbie Schuettpelz each finished with two hits for the Red Hawks, whom left seven runners on base. Marshall Zahn (0-2) pitched a complete game, allowing three runs on six hits, while striking out 10 and walking one in his six innings.

The Red Hawks will close out their 2015 Spring Trip on Friday when they'll face Midwest Conference foe, Grinnell College. That game will begin at 12 p.m. ET at Frostproof Athletic Complex.