DAVENPORT, Florida – Blaine Wahlen of the Ripon baseball program threw his first-ever complete game as the Red Hawks defeated Keystone 3-1 on Friday afternoon at Northeast Regional Park to cap off their week in Florida.
 
Picking up his first win of the season, Wahlen did not allow a baserunner from the second inning until the fifth, only allowing one Giant to reach second base all afternoon. He punched out a career-high nine batters while giving up just one earned run, only allowing one walk and four hits on the afternoon.
 
Ripon (3-7) seized control in the third inning as Kaleb Burns led off the inning with a double, advanced to second on a balk and stole third. With one out, Crete Slattery drove him home on a single and Ripon was on the board.
 
The Red Hawks doubled their lead over Keystone (5-5) in the fifth. Burns again started the rally, tripling with one out, before Kyler Hickman brought him home on a sacrifice fly. Ripon scored once more in the sixth as Ian Plaster singled home Nick Terrell with one out to bring Ripon's lead to 3-0.
 
Keystone got one back in the bottom of the sixth, scoring on a little league inside the park home run as a triple with an error allowed the batter to score. However, the Giants' last baserunner after that would be a one-out, ninth inning walk. Though Keystone had the tying run at the plate in the ninth, Wahlen slammed the door to preserve the Ripon victory.
 
Offensively, Slattery (2-for-5, RBI), Plaster (2-for-4, RBI) and Michael Sheehy (2-for-4) each had multi-hit outings. Burns, Terrell, and Nick Tenny also collected base hits.
 
NEXT UP: Ripon starts Midwest Conference play with a home doubleheader on Saturday (March 23) against Grinnell beginning at noon.
 
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