JACKSONVILLE, Illinois – In a game that featured 28 runs and 38 hits, the Ripon baseball program dropped the series rubber match at Illinois College on Saturday afternoon, 16-12.
 
Ripon (11-17, 6-6 MWC) manufactured a run in the opening inning, as Jason Clark was hit to lead off the game and scored three batters later on a sacrifice fly by Kyler Hickman. Illinois College (21-12, 9-5 MWC) took the lead in the bottom of the second, going ahead 2-1 on consecutive RBI doubles.
 
The Red Hawks tied the game on another sacrifice fly in the top of the third, as Evan Olson drove home Eli DiCarlo with one out. The Blueboys countered with a seven-run inning in the bottom of the third, as the hosts scored six of their seven runs in the inning with nobody out.
 
Trailing 9-2, Ripon had work to do and scored three runs in the top of the fourth. Jack Anderson connected on a two-run homer with nobody out, and Clark singled home Gabriel Zielinski with two outs as the Red Hawks chipped away. IC scored the next six runs, as a fifth-inning grand slam helped the Blueboys lead 15-5 after four and a half innings.
 
Still, Ripon continued to fight. A two-run single by Olson made the score 15-7 in the sixth, and four more runs brought the Red Hawks within 15-11 in the seventh: Anderson singled home Alex Pankratz before a two-run single by Brock Peterson helped the cause. Then, an RBI groundout by Crete Slattery kept the momentum going.
 
A solo homer by IC made Ripon's deficit five heading to the ninth, and though another Clark RBI single kept Ripon in it, the final two Red Hawks were retired to end the afternoon.
 
Clark had a four-hit game, going 4-for-5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Olson (2x5, 3 RBI), Pankratz (2x4, 2 runs), Anderson (2x4, 3 RBI, 2 runs, walk) and Zielinski (2x4, 2 runs, walk) also had multi-hit games. Ripon had 15 hits as a team – IC had 23 – and each team committed two errors.
 
Rex Bayer got the start and took the loss for Ripon. He pitched two innings, allowing 10 hits and six earned runs, while four other Red Hawks saw action on the mound.
 
NEXT UP: Ripon hosts Wisconsin Lutheran on Monday, April 21 for a single game beginning at 3 p.m.
 
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