FOND DU LAC, Wis. - In their final tune-up before this weekend's Midwest Conference Tournament, Ripon's baseball team lost both games of a doubleheader to Marian University Tuesday afternoon. The Red Hawks lost the first game 9-2, before dropping the second game 7-5.

Marian (23-13) scored the first run of the day on an RBI double in the bottom of the second inning. Ripon (22-16) would tie things up in the third when Michael Barnes doubled down the right field line, allowing Tyler Nelson to score. They would take their first lead of the game the following inning when Noah Herried scored on a balk. That lead didn't last long, as Marian scored eight runs on six hits in the bottom of the fourth to put the game out of reach.

Ripon finished the game with seven hits, led by Barnes and Herried, who had two apiece. Marian recorded 13 hits, including four players with a multi-hit game.

In the nightcap, it was the Sabres who again struck first, scoring once in the first, and twice more in the third. Ripon got on the board in the fourth on an RBI single from Riley Erickson, before Barnes scored on a wild pitch in the fifth to cut the lead to one. Marian extended their lead with a run in both the fifth and sixth inning, but Ripon got those runs back in the seventh on RBI from Herried and Joey Garza.

The game remained tight in the final innings, with Marian adding to their lead with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Both teams scored a run in the eighth, including Erickson's second career home run for the Red Hawks over the left field fence. Ripon had a chance to rally in the top of the ninth, getting two runners on with one out, but a double play ended the game.

Ripon finished with nine hits, led by two apiece from Herried, Garza, and Erickson. Marian recorded 14 hits, with five players finishing with more than one.

The Red Hawks will now get ready for this weekend's MWC Tournament, which will begin Friday at 10:30 a.m. They will play the top-seed in the South, host school Monmouth College, in the first game and will face either Cornell or Chicago in the afternoon of the double-elimination tournament. The MWC Tournament Championship game will be played on Saturday in Monmouth. All games in that tournament can be seen live, with LiveStats, at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.