The Lawrence University Baseball team was looking to get one win against MWC foe Ripon in the last two doubleheaders of their season last week. Despite an outstanding pitching performance by Aaron Sorenson, the Vikings were denied, and Ripon took all four games from the Vikings on their way to host the MWC Tournament.The Vikings were the host for the first two games at Fox Cities Stadium. Aaron Sorenson was on the mound for the Vikings, and he pitched a gem of a game. Sorenson pitched a complete seven innings giving up only six hits, and one sole run. He also struck out three batters. Unfortunately for him and the Vikings, they weren’t able to score a single run off of Ripon pitcher Nick Johnson. Johnson pitched a three-hitter, showing why some Major League Baseball scouts are watching him to possibly pick in the MLB Draft next month.
In the second game, neither team scored until the fifth inning. Ripon put up four in the fifth, and two in the sixth on its way to a 6-1 victory. B.J. Chase picked up the loss for LU dropping his record to 1-5. Noah Wishaw completely shut down the Vikings offense. He pitched nine innings, gave up three hits and gave up only one run which was unearned. He also struck out eight in raising his record to 6-0.
The last two games were at Ripon. The Vikings were jumped all over early in this one by the Redhawks. Ripon scored six runs in the first three innings, and then equaled that total in the fifth on its way to a 14-1 victory. Chris McGinley pitched five and a third innings in the loss for LU. The Vikings lone run was scored in the first inning on a Chris Stevo RBI single.
In the second game, the Vikings didn’t fair much better. They kept Ripon off the board for a little while, but the Redhawks count; be stopped forever. They exploded in the middle innings and coasted to a 10-3 victory. Justin Anthony pitched eight innings in taking the loss for the Vikings. The senior struck out four batters in his last start for LU. The Vikings scored their runs on a Jeremy Tollefson two RBI double, and a Kevin Fitzimmons RBI double.
The Redhawks finished the regular season at 28-2, and 15-1 in the MWC. They will host the MWC tournament this weekend. The other teams playing are St. Norbert, Monmouth, and Knox. The Vikings finish the season with a 9-21 mark, and a 6-10 record in the MWC, which tied them for third place in the Northern Division with Carroll. The Vikings will be graduating several key players. Anthony, Tollefson, Mike hart, Ryan Zutter and Chris McGinley all are graduating. The Vikings will be hard pressed to fill some of the roles these players had next year, but coach Korey Krueger and the rest of his staff will be up to the challenge.