RIPON, Wis. - Ripon's baseball team earned a sweep of Beloit College Monday afternoon, putting up some astronomical numbers in the process. The Red Hawks defeated the Buccaneers 7-6 in the first game on a walk-off double by Andrew Betcher, before also winning the nightcap 26-16 in eight innings. Those 26 runs mark the third-highest single game run total in program history, while the team's 24 hits in that game is tied for fourth in school history.

In the day's first game, Beloit got out to a 4-0 lead after a three-run fourth inning, but Ripon got all three of those runs back in the fifth. They would get on the board on a two-run single from Nick Terrell, before Nick Taranto added an RBI of his own on a single to left center. Beloit would extend their lead to three with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth, but Ripon again answered with two runs in the bottom of that frame on a two-run single off the bat of Noah Herried. Ripon entered the bottom of the ninth still trailing by one, setting the stage for Betcher's heroics, as he delivered a two-out double for his first hit as a Red Hawk to score both Michael Barnes and Taranto for the victory.

Ripon finished with nine hits in the game, with two apiece coming from Barnes, Herried, and Tyler Nelson. Brody Marks (3-0) earned the win, allowing just one run on three hits in two innings of relief.

After the first game, the wind began to pick up, helping the ball fly out of the yard, as the two teams combined for five home runs in game two. Ripon would score at least one run in all eight innings, which began with a five-run first. The Red Hawks got on the board on a two-run double by Joey Garza, who would later score from third on a steal. Keegan Johnston then drove in two more runs with the game's first home run, his first of two on the day.

Beloit then cut that lead to one with a four-spot in the second, followed by two more Ripon runs in the second on back-to-back homers from Taranto and Barnes. Beloit put up two more runs in the third, before Ripon opened their lead with three runs in the third, including Johnston's team-leading fifth homer of the season, and one RBI apiece by Jacob Pankratz and Nelson, and four more runs in the fourth. That fourth inning was highlighted by a two-run double by Pankratz and RBI from Riley Erickson and Terrell to make the score 14-6.

Beloit added two more runs in the top of the fifth, but Ripon continued to pour it on with five runs in the bottom of that frame, which included an RBI by Garza and a run-scoring single from Nelson. Beloit cut the lead to 19-13 with a five-run sixth, before the Red Hawks plated two runs in the bottom of that inning, including an RBI single off the bat of Erickson. Beloit's final runs of the contest came in the seventh, which saw them score three times, making the score 21-16, but Ripon ended the game with four runs in the seventh and one more in the eighth, as Terrell scored on a wild pitch with two outs to clinch the sweep.

All nine starters for the Red Hawks recorded at least one hit, led by Barnes' 5-for-6 effort, which is tied for the third-most single game hits by a player in program history, while also scoring five times. Taranto added four hits and four runs, while Erickson and Pankratz each collected three hits and Garza, Johnston, and Herried each had two base knocks. Garza led the team with four RBI, while also scoring three times, while Erickson, Johnston, and Pankratz each drove in three runs.

Ripon will be in action again on Tuesday when they will host St. Norbert College in a single nine-inning game at 3:30 p.m. at Francis Field in Ripon. That game can be seen live with LiveStats at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.