RIPON, Wis.- Ripon College baseball team extended its winning streak to six games following a doubleheader sweep over Midwest Conference opponent Knox College. With the two wins, the Red Hawks take the season series and look to go for the sweep tomorrow. Ripon moved to 16-11 and 11-4 in the conference while Knox falls to 7-21 and 1-13 in the MWC.

Kyler Hickman finished the day going 4-for-8 with two doubles, two RBIs, and a run scored. Teammate Evan Olson finished game two going 3-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs scored, and a home run.

The Red Hawks are back in action tomorrow when they close out the conference series with Knox at 11 am and at 4 pm Ripon will play a conference makeup game against visiting Monmouth at 4 pm.

Game 1: Ripon 2, Knox 1

With one down in the bottom of the second, Hickman doubled to left field for Ripon and later moved to third off a ground out by Nick Tenny. Remington Cox extended his hitting streak to seven games when his RBI single through the right side scored Hickman to put the Red Hawks up 1-0 before the inning ended.

Knox tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fifth without recording a hit in the inning. The Prairie Fire used a hit by pitch, a walk, a stolen base, and a double play ball to score their only run of the game.

Ripon in its half of the frame got things started when Kaleb Burns walked and later moved to second when Cormac Madigan singled through the left side. Burns took third off of Cam Stampfl's sacrifice bunt to put runners on the corners. Madigan was out at second on the play.  Stampfl then stole second for his eighth stolen base of the season to put both runners in scoring position.  Brock Warren's sacrifice fly to right allowed Burns to score and put the Red Hawks back in front, 2-1.

That was enough runs for Ripon as starting pitcher Blaine Wahlen threw seven strong innings allowing one run (earned), four hits, and fanning five to earn his second win of the season. Reliever Brandon Peace pitched a one-two-three scoreless eighth inning while Brock Turkington picked up his fourth save of the season as he closed it out in the ninth.
 
Game 2: Ripon 7, Knox 5

The Red Hawks took an early 2-0 but it did last long as Knox plated four runs in the top of the fourth to go up 4-2. Ripon was able to get one of the runs back in the bottom half of the inning to make it, 4-3.

Both teams would go scoreless the next two and a half innings until the Red Hawks took the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Stampfl leadoff with a single to right and then advanced to second on a ground out to the first baseman. Olson's single through the left side put runners on the corners with one down. Olson stole second to make sure the double play ball wasn't able to be used.  Both runners later came around to score when Hickman doubled to the left-center gap to put the Red Hawks in front, 5-4.

The Prairie Fire were able to tie the game in the top of the eighth but Ripon responded in the bottom half of the frame with a pair of runs that started with an infield single to short by Alex Pankratz. He later moved up 90 feet off of Burns' sacrifice bunt to third. Burns was out on the play at first. Pankratz later scored when Madigan doubled into right-center to put Ripon up, 6-5.  Stampfl singled through the right side, which plated Madigan to give the Red Hawks some insurance and a two-run lead now. A double-play ball ended the inning and left the bases load.

Reliever Brock Turkington picked up his second win (2-1) of the season as he threw 1.2 scoreless innings while striking out two and having a one-two-three ninth.