St. Norbert Clinches MWC North Division Crown

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, May 5, 2018 | Baseball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

RIPON - St. Norbert College clinched the Midwest Conference North Division title and will host the MWC Tournament next weekend after splitting with Ripon College in a doubleheader at Francis Field. The Green Knights lost the opener 4-3 in 10 innings before bouncing back with a big 17-4 triumph in the nightcap.

St. Norbert (21-12, 10-4 MWC) pounded out 18 hits in the second game and scored in every inning but the sixth.

The Green Knights scored a run in the first inning on a Jason Malkowski grounder. The Red Hawks tied the game with a run in the bottom of the first, but St. Norbert answered with six runs in the top of the second inning. Sean Ferraro had a run-scoring single, while Hunter Larson had a two-run double. Malkowski followed with a run-scoring double, and later scored on an error. Tyler Banovich scored on a wild pitch to give St. Norbert a 7-1 lead.

St. Norbert added to its lead in the third inning on a run-scoring singles by Larson and Malkowski. Ripon scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the third inning to cut it to 9-4, but the Green Knights scored three times in the fourth. Robbie Dombrowski's grounder plated a run, while Larson had an RBI single. Ferraro later scored on a wild pitch.

Brett Reinhart's sacrifice bunt brought home a run in the fifth inning. The Green Knights put the game away with four runs in the seventh inning on RBI singles from Jacob Raeder and Dombrowski, a sacrifice fly from Michael Larsen and a run scoring on a balk.

Larson was 4-for-5 with four RBI, while Ferraro was 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Malkowski was 2-for-6 with three RBI, while Raeder and Griffin Jack were both 2-for-5 with two runs scored.

Bryce Braspennickx earned the win with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

In the opener, St. Norbert rallied from a 3-0 deficit to force extra innings but never led.

Ripon scored twice in the second inning and once in the third inning for a 3-0 lead. St. Norbert got two runs back in the fifth inning on a Ferraro RBI double, with Ferraro later scoring on an error. The Green Knights tied it in the eight inning on Tyler Banovich's sacrifice fly to score Malkowski.

Ripon would score the game-winning run in the bottom of the tenth inning on a two-out single by Riley Erickson.

Jack was 2-for-5 for the Green Knights, who had eight hits.