WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Ripon's baseball team dropped a pair of games on Sunday, narrowly falling to Franklin & Marshall by a score of 7-6, before losing to Rutgers-Newark 8-3 in the nightcap.

In their first game of the day, Ripon (0-4) took an early lead on an RBI single to center by Joey Garza, allowing Nick Taranto to cross the plate. Franklin & Marshall (11-2) then added a run of their own in the bottom of that frame, before Ripon grabbed the lead back in the third on a sac fly by Riley Erickson, scoring Michael Barnes. F&M would then take their first lead of the contest with two runs in the bottom of that inning.

Ripon continued to hang in the game, tying the score at three in the fourth when Jacob Pankratz scored on an error. Franklin & Marshall took the lead right back with a run in the bottom of that inning, before adding two more in the fifth. Ripon battled back once more, tying the score in the seventh on a three-run home run by Keegan Johnston, which marks his second career homer. Franklin & Marshall would have the last laugh however, as they scored the go-ahead run on an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.

The Red Hawks finished with nine hits, with two apiece coming from Taranto and Johnston. Kade Lancour got the start and allowed two earned runs, while striking out three in four innings of work.

In the day's second game, Rutgers-Newark (1-3) got out to an early lead, scoring once in the first, three times in the second, and twice more in the third. They added another run in the fourth to build a 7-0 lead mid-way through the game. Ripon's only runs came in the eighth inning, which saw Johnston drive in two runs with a single to right field, while Riley Erickson scored the team's only other run on a wild pitch.

Ripon will be in action again on Monday when they'll battle Rutgers-Camden at 10 a.m. ET at Osceola Field in Kissimmee, Fla.