LA CROSSE, Wis. -,A day after one of the biggest wins in program history over #3 UW-Whitewater at the NCAA Midwest Regional playoffs, the Ripon College baseball team found themselves on the other end of things, losing to Coe College 5-4, in the double elimination tournament. Three of Ripon's four runs came on solo home runs from senior Michael Polcyn, giving him seven homers in the last five games.

Polcyn broke a scoreless tie in the very first inning, crushing the ball over the right center field wall. That's where the score would remain until the bottom of the fourth when Coe (33-12) got on the board with two runs on two hits and one error, including a solo home run of their own. The Red Hawks (24-15) would tie the score the following inning when Dakotah Kirchenwitz singled up the middle with two outs, scoring Nick Uhen from second base.

That tie was short-lived, as Coe scored once in the bottom of the fifth, thanks in part to a pair of Ripon fielding errors. Polcyn got that run back in the top of the sixth with his second dinger of the game, tying the score at three. The Kohawks answered with a solo home run of their own in the bottom of that inning and would add one more in the seventh on an RBI single.

Polcyn wasn't done yet. He led off the top of the eighth with his third long ball of the day, giving him 12 home runs in Ripon's last 13 games. After shutting down Coe in the bottom of the eighth, the Red Hawks had one final chance in the ninth as they got a runner on second with two outs, but the game would end with Polcyn standing in the on-deck circle.

Ripon finished with nine hits, but Polcyn was the only Red Hawk to record more than one. In just two years with the team, Polcyn has 25 home runs, which is tied for fourth in school history. Marshall Zahn (5-3) suffered the loss, despite allowing just three earned runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings of work.

With the loss, Ripon will now play Concordia-Chicago Friday at 10 a.m. in La Crosse, Wis. in what will be an elimination game, with the loser going home. The team that wins that game will play again Friday at 7:45 p.m.
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