DE PERE, Wis. - Ripon's baseball team battled St. Norbert and 17-mile-per-hour winds Saturday afternoon in a doubleheader that ultimately saw the Green Knights come out on top. St. Norbert won the first game 15-13 in a contest that saw the two teams combine for 40 hits. SNC would also win the second game in come-from-behind fashion by a score of 7-5.
Game one saw Ripon jump on the board early with a solo home run by
Nick Terrell, his first of three long-balls in the game.
Jake Pankratz would drive in another on a sacrifice bunt, while
Dane O'Donnell recorded an RBI single to right center. St. Norbert got two of those runs back in the bottom of that inning, before Ripon added two more runs in the second when Terrell homered over the right field wall. O'Donnell got into the longball action in the third, leading off with a home run down the right field line.
St. Norbert got back into the game in the bottom of the third, scoring seven runs on seven hits to take a 9-6 lead, with six of their runs in that inning coming with two out. The biggest blow in that inning came from Christian Jack, who hit a grand slam over the center field fence.
The Green Knights added a run in both the fourth and fifth, before Ripon tied the game at 11 with five runs in the top of the seventh. Terrell completed his hat trick in that frame with a two-run homer to center. One batter later,
Keegan Johnston got into the action, depositing a St. Norbert pitch over the center field wall. After a Pankratz single, O'Donnell smacked his second homer of the game, this one to right field to tie the game.
St. Norbert answered with a two-run home run in the bottom of that inning, while adding a two-run single to get some breathing room. Ripon added a pair of runs in the eighth on a two-run single by Pankratz, but it was not enough.
Ripon finished with 19 hits, with the top half of their order carrying the most wait. The Red Hawks' top five batters in the order combined to go 15-for-24 at the plate. Both Terrell and
Nick Tenny led the way with four hits, while each also scored four runs. Terrell added a game-high six RBI, which is tied for ninth in program history for a single game, while his three home runs marks just the third time a Ripon player has accomplished that feat, ranking tied for second in program history. O'Donnell added three hits, while Johnston and Pankratz each finished with two base knocks.
Ripon out-hit St. Norbert 11-8 in the second game, but it was the Green Knights who struck first with a run in the bottom of the first. Ripon tied the score in the second when
Andrew Betcher drove in a run in a single to left center. That tie lasted until the bottom of the second when St. Norbert pushed another run across the plate, while also scoring once in the third.
The Red Hawks took their first lead of the contest in the sixth, which saw them score four times.
Evan Barbian doubled down the left field line to drive in the first run of the inning, while
Caleb Green added a two-run single. Terrell capped the scoring that inning with a two-out RBI single.
Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the second, St. Norbert scored three runs on two hits to take the lead. They would add an insurance run in the eighth, en route to the victory.
Ripon's 11 hits came from eight different players. Barbian, Green, and
Jake Cedar led the way with two hits apiece.
The Red Hawks will face this same St. Norbert squad in a doubleheader again on Sunday. That twinbill will begin at Noon at Francis Field in Ripon, and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/, with LiveStats available at https://static.riponredhawks.com/custompages/LiveStats/Baseball/xlive.htm.
