WAUKESHA, Wis. - Ripon's baseball team defeated Wisconsin Lutheran 4-3 Thursday afternoon to earn their first victory of the 2021 season. Trailing by two runs entering the eighth inning, the Red Hawks scored three times in the final two frames combined to pick up the win.

Wisconsin Lutheran (1-2) broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third on an RBI single to right field. That was followed by an RBI triple to right center and another run, which scored on an error. Ripon cut into that 3-0 deficit with their first run of the game in the top of the fifth when Nick Terrell drove in Andrew Betcher with a sacrifice fly.

The score remained 3-1 until the eighth when Ripon (1-4) cut that deficit in half, as a sac bunt by Jakob Williams drove in Keegan Johnston, who led the inning off with a double to center. The Red Hawks were able to complete the comeback in the game's final inning, which saw Nick Latendresse lead off with a double to right. He would later score to tie the game on a sac bunt by Andrew DeMatteo. The go-ahead run would score one batter later when Anthony Zak crossed the plate on a passed ball with two outs.

Jake Pankratz (1-0) earned his first career victory, pitching two hitless innings to end the game, while striking out three batters. Fellow reliever Nathan Hopkins also did not surrender a hit in his 1.2 innings of work. Caleb Green started and allowed two earned runs in 5.1 innings, while striking out two.

Ripon will now try to build on this win in their next game, as they'll travel to Kenosha, Wis. on Saturday for a doubleheader at Carthage College. Game one will begin at Noon, with both games being webcast at https://www.carthage.edu/multimedia/webcast-5/ and LiveStats available at https://athletics.carthage.edu/sidearmstats/baseball/summary.