GALESBURG, Ill. - Ripon won both games of Saturday's doubleheader at Knox College, behind an offensive explosion that saw them score 29 runs on 33 hits, including six doubles and five home runs in the two games combined. The Red Hawks won the first game 18-6 in seven innings, before completing the doubleheader sweep with an 11-8 victory in game two.

The day's first game was a welcome back party for senior first baseman Keegan Johnston, who had missed the last month and a half of the season due to injury. He came back with a vengeance, going 3-for-4 at the plate with two home runs, one triple, seven RBI, and three runs scored. That led Ripon's 18-hit effort in a game which the Red Hawks never trailed. They built a 5-0 lead in the second inning and ever looked back. The biggest blow came on Johnston's second homer of the game, a grand slam in the seventh inning, which put the Red Hawks up 18-4.

Johnston was one of six Ripon players to record multi-hit efforts in game one, with Cormac Madigan, Cam Stampfl, and Nick Terrell also recording three hits apiece. Two of Madigan's hits went for extra bases, including a double, and his first collegiate home run. Samuel Ott and Nick Tenny added two hits apiece, while Ott also drove in three runs.

Brock Warren (3-1) picked up the victory, allowing two runs on six hits and striking out five, without issuing a walk in five innings of work. Remington Cox added three strikeouts in just one inning of relief.

Game two saw Ripon jump out to another early lead, as Ott doubled in a run to break a scoreless tie in the top of the first, followed by an RBI single by Johnston.

Leading 3-2 in the third inning, Ripon allowed Knox to score six runs over the next two innings, taking their first lead of the day. The Red Hawks would battle back however, with an RBI single by Ott in the fifth, which was followed by a two-run single by Jake Pankratz and a double off the bat of Brady Price, which scored two more runs to tie the game at eight in the fifth inning. Madigan then gave the Red Hawks the lead for good with an RBI single in the seventh. Ott tacked on a pair of insurance runs with a two-run homer in the eighth inning.

Ott finished the game with a career-high four hits, while tying a career-high with four RBI to lead Ripon's offensive attack. Pankratz added three hits, while Johnston, Tenny, and Price each finished with two base knocks. Brock Turkington (2-1) earned the victory, allowing just one hit without allowing a run in the final four innings of the game, while striking out five batters.

Ripon will go for the series sweep of the Prairie Fire on Sunday when these two teams will play one more game at Noon in Galesburg, Ill. That contest can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.