RIPON, Wis. - For the third consecutive season, the Ripon College baseball team is headed to the Midwest Conference Tournament. Needing just one win to clinch a spot in next weekend's tourney, the Red Hawks did one better and won both of their games against Carroll University. Ripon won the first easily, 11-1 in seven innings, before taking the second in dramatic fashion with a 5-4 come-from-behind victory.

The day's first game was never really in doubt, as Ripon (18-12, 12-2 MWC North) scored twice in the bottom of the first on a double to left center by Michael Polcyn. Dakotah Kirchenwitz singled home another run in the second, before Mitchell Busch gave the Red Hawks a 5-0 lead with a two-run home run in the third. Kirchenwitz added an RBI triple in that inning. Carroll (13-21, 6-8 MWC North) finally got on the board in the fifth, but Ripon got that run back the following inning on an RBI double off the bat of Nick Kita.

The floodgates then opened in the seventh, with the Red Hawks scoring four runs on five hits to end the game in seven innings. Bradley Knoblock smashed his first career home run in that inning, while Polcyn drove in a run with a single and Nick Schmitt plated two more on a double to left.

Patrick Van Daalwyk (2-1) was brilliant on the mound, allowing one run, while scattering four hits and striking out eight in a seven-inning complete game. Ripon finished the game with 17 hits, with four of those coming from Kirchenwitz, who finished a home run shy of the cycle. Kita and Jake Reinke each added three hits, while Polcyn, Schmitt, and Knoblock finished with two apiece.

The second game of the day was a much closer contest, with Carroll leading for the first six innings. The Pioneers scored twice in the first and again in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead, which would last until the sixth when Ripon scored on a Reinke RBI single and a run-scoring double by Polcyn. The Red Hawks would take their first lead in the following inning on a bases loaded double by Nate Siudak that cleared the bases. Carroll would make things interesting with a run in the ninth, but Jeff Schuurmans came on to nail down his fourth save of the season, which moves him into a tie for the school's single season school record.

Marshall Zahn (4-2) started and got the win, allowing three earned runs on eight hits in eight innings of work, while striking out three. Kirchenwitz, Reinke, and Robbie Schuettpelz each led the Red Hawks with two hits, while Kirchenwitz also scored a team-high two runs.

The Red Hawks will try for the series sweep on Sunday when they'll travel to Carroll for another doubleheader. The first game of that double-dip is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Waukesha. A sweep would give Ripon a 14-2 conference record for the third consecutive season. The site of next week's MWC Tournament is still to be decided based on the result of Sunday's other games in the MWC South Division.