WHITEWATER, Wis. - Facing one of their toughest opponents of the season Wednesday afternoon, Ripon's baseball team split a doubleheader with #16 UW-Whitewater. The Red Hawks have now won 14 of their last 17 games during the last month.

UW-Whitewater scored the day's first run in the bottom of the third of game one, but Ripon tied things up in the fifth on an RBI fielder's choice by Joey Garza, which scored Tyler Nelson. The score would remain tied at one until the eighth when the Red Hawks pushed two more runs across the plate via a double down the left field line by Nick Terrell, which allowed Jacob Pankratz and Noah Herried to score with two outs, which proved to be the winning runs.

Ripon finished with 14 hits, as every player in the lineup recorded at least one. Garza, Taranto, Herried, Riley Erickson, and Michael Barnes all had two hits in the game. Brody Marks (4-0) earned the win, allowing one hit in one scoreless inning of relief. Brice Swick earned his first save of the season with a perfect ninth inning in which he struck out one batter.

The day's second game started just like the first, with UW-Whitewater scoring first with a run in the bottom of the second. Ripon then tied things up the following inning on an RBI single by Nelson. They would take the lead the following inning on a two-run single through the right side of the infield by Keegan Johnston.

Whitewater cut that lead to one with a run in the bottom of the fourth, before taking the lead with three runs in the fifth. They would add two more insurance runs in the eighth to salvage the split.

Ripon again out-hit the Warhawks in the second game, finishing with 10 hits. Nelson led the way, going 3-for-5 at the plate, while all but one starter recorded at least one base knock.

The Red Hawks will be in action again on Saturday when they'll host Lawrence for a doubleheader beginning at Noon at Francis Field. That twinbill will also serve as Ripon's annual Senior Day celebration, honoring Barnes, Taranto, Erickson, Garza, and Hector Aguinaga. The games can be seen live with LiveStats at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.