MILLINGTON, Tenn. – The Ripon College baseball team picked up its fourth win of the season with a 9-4 victory over Westfield State University at the USA Stadium Complex this afternoon. The win is the team's third in a row this season. Ripon moves to 4-5 on the season while the Owls fall to 2-5 on the campaign.
The Red Hawks finished with a season-high eight stolen bases in a single game today. The most stolen bases since 2004 Ripon tallied in a single game was six last year in a 6-5 win against Worcester St. in game one of a doubleheader on March 13.
Westfield St. took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first but the Red Hawks were able to get two of the runs back in the bottom of the first to make it a 3-2 game.
After both teams went scoreless in the second, Ripon grabbed its first lead of the game in the bottom of the third as it plated three runs on four hits.
Cam Stampfl started things off when he tripled to right field and then scored off of
Brock Warren's sacrifice fly to right to tie the game at three. With two outs,
Alex Pankratz kept the inning alive as he reached first on an error by the third baseman. He later moved to third off of
Kaleb Burns single to center. Burns took second on the throw to third to put runners in scoring position for the Red Hawks.
Kyler Hickman put Ripon in front when he drove in both runners with a single to left to make it 5-3 before the inning came to an end.
Ripon's pitching took over as it produced four straight scoreless innings, which allowed the offense to post another three runs in the bottom of the seventh to make it, 8-3. The Red Hawks tacked on another run in the eighth to go up 9-3 before the Owls put a run on the board in the top of the ninth to make it 9-4 before the side was retired.
Five Ripon players finished with multiple hits with Stampfl and
Remington Cox pacing all players with three hits each. Stampfl tallied a double, a triple, three runs scored, and a stolen base while going 3-for-4. Cox finished the day going a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.
Burns, Hickman, and Pankratz combined going 6-for-14 with four runs scored, three RBIs, and a double.
Starter Warren earned his first win to improve to 1-1 on the season. He scattered six hits over seven innings of work allowing three runs (all earned) while fanning five in the process.
The Red Hawks finish up this year's spring trip tomorrow as they face the United States Merchant Marine Academy at 11 AM.
