MAUSTON, Wis. – Ripon's baseball team experienced a wide range of emotions Sunday afternoon as they split their final two games of the 2017 Midwest Conference Crossover. The Red Hawks lost to Monmouth 8-3 in the first game, which was a back-and-forth affair, before coming back from an early six-run deficit to defeat Knox in the nightcap 11-10 in 10 innings.
 
Against Monmouth (13-14, 6-6 MWC), Ripon fell behind early as the Fighting Scots scored on an RBI double to center field in the top of the second inning. The score would remain 1-0 until the eighth when Monmouth pushed a run across with another RBI double. Ripon's bats finally got going in the bottom half of the eighth as Michael Barnes tied the score with a two-run home run to left center, his second homer of the weekend. One batter later, Josh Oswald gave the Red Hawks (8-21, 7-6 MWC) their first lead of the day on a solo homer over the center field fence.

Still leading 3-2 with two outs in the top of the ninth, Monmouth rallied with six runs on seven hits, with all six runs coming unearned. Ripon drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the ninth, but the next batter was retired to end the game.
 
Ripon finished the game with seven hits, with Barnes and Isiah Ramos recording two apiece. Brian Brown (1-3) took the hard-luck loss, as he allowed just one earned run on eight hits in 8.2 innings of work, while striking out one without issuing a walk.
 
The day's second game looked bleak for the Red Hawks early on, as Knox (11-13, 4-7 MWC) took an early 6-0 lead with five runs in the top of the first, and one more in the second. Ripon never gave up however, getting on the board in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly by Michael Barnes. The Red Hawks would add six more runs on five hits and two Knox errors in the fourth to get back in the game and take their first lead of the contest. Barnes, David La Tour, Robbie Schuettpelz, Brice Swick, and Nick Taranoto each drove in a run in that big inning.
 
Ripon added two more runs in the seventh on an RBI single from Swick and a run-scoring groundout by Barnes, which gave them a three-run lead. Knox battled back however, scoring on a sac fly in the eighth and a solo home run and RBI single in the ninth. After Ripon failed to score in the bottom of that frame, the game moved to extra innings where Knox took the lead on a throwing error in the top of the 10^th. Ripon then put a rally of their own together, starting with a lead-off single by Oswald in the bottom of the 10^th. After the next two batters also reached base, Ripon tied the score on an error by Knox's left fielder. One batter later, Schuettpelz wore a pitch, getting plunked with the bases loaded to drive in the game-winning run with no outs in the inning.
 
Both teams finished the game with 16 hits. Ripon was led by a trio of players with three base knocks, as Ramos, Swick, and Groves did the honors. Barnes drove in a team-high three runs, despite not having a hit in five at-bats, while a trio of players scored two runs. Ryan Maier (2-0) earned the victory, allowing zero earned runs on two hits and striking out two in 1.2 innings of relief.
 
The Red Hawks will be in action again on Wednesday when they'll travel to UW-Oshkosh. That game will begin at 4 p.m. in Oshkosh, Wis., with LiveStats available at http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/LiveStats/Baseball/xlive.htm.