RIPON, Wis. – Ripon and St. Norbert played their second consecutive extra-inning game and while St. Norbert won the first time it was the Red Hawks who captured the latter game with a thrilling 11-8 win over the Green Knights to capture the MWC Championship and earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

St. Norbert got on the board first with a pair of runs in the second inning from RBI hits from Nick Dagneau and Troy Rottier to give the Green Knights and early advantage. Ripon got both of the runs back in the fourth inning when Zach Bayreuther singled through the right side to score a run which was then followed by a Kyle Bosquez fielder’s choice groundout to score Nick Hughes.

Ripon broke out in the sixth inning with four runs on five hits plus benefitting from a St. Norbert error. The key plays in the inning were run scoring hits from Bosquez and Taylor Koth. Ripon then tagged on two more runs in the eighth inning with an RBI single from Adam Grambow and another one from Nick Schmitt.

With Ripon up six runs in the middle of the eighth inning most would have thought the game was over but St. Norbert answered the bell and tied the game in its half of the eighth inning that set up a wild finish. The Green Knights only had three hits in the inning but plated six runs which was culminated by an Alex Larsen bases clearing double to score three runs and tie the game.

Neither team scored again until the top of the 13th inning when Ripon finally broke the deadlock and propelled themselves to a conference championship. With one out Dakotah Kirchenwitz singled home Hughes for the game deciding run. The Red Hawks scored two more insurance runs to give themselves some breathing room to round out the scoring.

Ripon finished the game with 20 hits and had nine players record at least one hit. Grambow led the way with a 4-for-8 day with two runs batted in while both Koth and Kirchenwitz had three hits each. Tom Fish was the fifth Ripon pitcher of the day and earned the win as he went 5.1 innings, giving up only two hits and striking out two.

St. Norbert committed eight errors for the game and collected 12 hits in the loss. Jose Godinez and Larsen each had three hits while Rottier had a pair of hits. Kevin Nutley took the loss as he went four innings in relief giving up five hits and three runs (one earned).

Ripon won its 20th MWC Baseball Championship and now makes its 11th NCAA Tournament appearances. St. Norbert finished the year with 27 wins which led the conference. Ripon will find out its NCAA opponent early next week.