MAUSTON, Wis. - The second day of the Midwest Conference Baseball Crossover posed Ripon's biggest challenge of the weekend, as they faced the top two teams in the MWC South Division standings. The Red Hawks started the day with a 6-1 win against Grinnell, which entered the day with the MWC South's best record. Ripon didn't fare as well in the final game of the day, losing to Cornell by an 8-3 margin.

Against Grinnell (16-11, 10-4 MWC), the Red Hawks (7-20, 6-5 MWC) controlled the game from start to finish, breaking a scoreless tie in the top of the third when Josh Oswald singled to right field to drive in Isiah Ramos. Ripon added two more runs the following inning on freshman Bennett Groves' first collegiate home run to take a 3-0 lead.

The Red Hawks extended their lead in the seventh, scoring two more runs as Michael Barnes recorded an RBI single and David La Tour added a sacrifice fly. Ripon added another run in the ninth on an RBI single off the bat of Nick Taranoto, before Grinnell pushed across their only run of the game in the bottom half of that inning.

Ripon finished with 13 hits, with four coming from Barnes. Robbie Schuettpelz was a home run shy of the cycle, while Oswald added two base knocks. On the mound, Brice Swick was brilliant, picking up his first win of the season by spinning eight shutout innings, scattering seven hits and striking out six, without issuing a walk. Thirteen of the 23 outs Swick recorded came via groundout.

The day's second game didn't go as smoothly. Cornell (13-13, 8-3 MWC) struck first, scoring on a throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt with two outs in the bottom of the third. The Rams added another on a groundout in the fifth, before scoring three runs on one hit and two errors in the sixth. They would add three more runs in the seventh to take a commanding 8-0 lead.

Ripon would mount a comeback, but it wouldn't start until the top of the ninth when they would score their first run on a two-out double by Oswald. Taranto would follow that with an RBI single to centerfield, and he would later score on a passed ball, but it was too little too late for the Red Hawks.

Ripon finished with seven hits, with Ramos, Oswald, and Taranto recording two hits apiece. Cornell scored their eight runs on just nine hits, while Tyrus Hartman (3-3) was strong on the mound for the Rams, recording 10 strikeouts in 8.2 innings.

The Red Hawks will wrap up their MWC Baseball Crossover schedule on Sunday when they'll play Monmouth and Knox at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, at Woodside Complex in Mauston, Wis. LiveStats for both of those games will be available at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.