Green Knights Make History in Sweep of Ripon
From Sports Information Director, May 7, 2012 | Baseball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077
RIPON - St. Norbert College swept a season series from Ripon College for the first time in school history as the Green Knights took both ends of a Midwest Conference doubleheader 8-5 and 10-4 at Francis Field.
The Green Knights (23-11, 14-2 MWC) head into Friday's Midwest Conference Tournament opener against Knox College having won 15 of their last 16 games. Ripon ended its season at 17-19 overall and 7-9 in the MWC.
St. Norbert took an early lead in the opener with two runs scoring on a Chris Hillesheim double in the first inning. The Red Hawks cut it to 2-1 in the fifth, but the Green Knights countered with four runs in the top of the sixth. Chris Laux had an RBI double, a two-run single by Matt Hannon and a RBI single by Travis Mason. Laux added another RBI double in the seventh for a 7-1 lead. Ripon scored three times in the eighth but St. Norbert scored once in the ninth to salt the game away.
Mason improved to 6-1 on the mound allowing nine hits with two walks and one strikeout in 7 1/3 innings. Laux was 3-for-5 with two RBIs, while Hannon was also 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Hillesheim and Garrick Fisher both went 2-for-5.
The Green Knights broke open a 2-2 game in the nightcap with a six-run fifth inning. Hannon had an RBI single to get the scoring going, while Mason cranked a three-run double. Fisher and Laux then had RBI singles to cap off an uprising that featured seven hits.
Laux, who had a two-run single in the second inning, was 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Fisher was 2-for-5 and Jose Godinez was 2-for-3. Troy Rottier earned his first collegiate win allowing four hits and two runs in five innings.