RIPON, Wis. - The Ripon College baseball team couldn't have begun conference play in better fashion, as they swept a doubleheader against St. Norbert College Thursday afternoon. The Red Hawks won the first game 7-6 on a walk-off single by Jake Reinke, before winning the nightcap behind a pitching gem from reigning Midwest Conference Pitcher of the Year Marshall Zahn.

In the day's first game, it was St. Norbert (7-9, 0-2 MWC North) that struck first, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning on a groundout and an RBI single by Tyler Brown. The Green Knights added another run in the fourth when Troy Rottier scored on a double play.

Ripon (5-7, 2-0 MWC North) finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, taking their first lead of the day with four runs in the inning. Josh Oswald drove in the team's first run on a single to right center, while Nick Schmitt added a sacrifice fly. The key hit in the inning came from Nick Uhen, who recorded a two-out single to score two runs and put the Red Hawks in front.

Ripon added another run in the fifth and one more in the sixth on a sac fly off the bat of Uhen. St. Norbert got both of those runs back in the seventh on RBI singles from Brandon Kozinski and Tyler Banovich to pull within one run. That's where the score remained until one out in the top of the ninth when Rottier crushed a home run well over the right field fence, tying the score at 6.

That did not deter the Red Hawks though, as they got down to business in the bottom of the ninth. Bradley Knoblock led the inning off with a single, and after advancing a base on each of the next two outs, Reinke's heroics brought Knoblock home with the winning run.

Knoblock finished with a game-high three hits, as he finished just a home run shy of the cycle. Reinke added two base knocks, while Uhen led all players with three RBI. Jeff Schuurmans (1-0) picked up the win in relief, pitching 1.2 innings of one run ball, while striking out two batters, including one with the bases loaded to end the eighth.

The second game of the day was a bit more of a pitcher's duel. Marshall Zahn (1-2) did Marshall Zahn things, allowing just one earned run in a six-hit complete game that saw him strike out nine batters, while walking three. Some of his only trouble of the day came in the fourth when St. Norbert scored their first and only run of the game on a bases loaded walk to take the first lead of the contest.,

That lead didn't last long, as Ripon plated two runs in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Oswald and a run-scoring double by Schmitt. The Red Hawks added to their lead the following inning when Reinke scored on a wild pitch. They would score three more times in the seventh, scoring two of those runs on a bases loaded single off the bat of Schmitt.

Schmitt finished the game with two of Ripon's eight hits. He also led the team with three RBI, while Michael Polcyn scored a team-high two runs.

The Red Hawks will try to duplicate this sweep on Saturday when they'll travel to St. Norbert for another doubleheader between the two heated rivals. The first game of that twinbill will begin at 1 p.m. in De Pere, Wis., with Live Stats available at,http://www.snc.edu/athletics/teamfiles/livestats/xlive.htm.