Contact: Chassidy Holloway, Assistant Executive Director, holloway@midwestconference.org
 
APPLETON, Wisconsin – The Lawrence University Vikings rallied from behind to defeat the University of Chicago Maroons 7-6, winning the 2022 MWC Baseball Tournament crown on Saturday afternoon.
 
Chicago struck first, scoring three runs in the first inning, and following up with another in the second. In the bottom of the second inning, Lawrence put one run on the board and scored another in the third.
 
The Vikings fell behind 6-2 after four full innings, before the runs dried up for the Maroons. Lawrence scored twice in the fifth inning to cut into the Chicago lead 6-4 on two one-run homers from Jacob Charon and Taylor Freeman.
 
Three scores in the sixth inning gave Lawrence its first lead of the game. In the top of the ninth, Chicago had one out and two runners in scoring position, but the Vikings would hold off the Maroons, getting two outs and securing the win.
 
With the victory, Lawrence improves to 26-11 and will advance to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship on the league’s automatic qualifier. This will be the Vikings first NCAA tournament appearance since 1979. The selection show is scheduled for Monday, May 16, at 12:00 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.
 
The final day of the MWC Baseball Tournament started with an elimination game between the University of Chicago and Ripon College. The Maroons defeated the Red Hawks 9-4 to advance to the championship game.
 
The Red Hawks scored first, picking up two runs in the third inning. The Maroons answered with two runs of their own in the top of the fourth before both teams exchanged runs in the fifth to tie the game 3-3.
 
In the sixth, Chicago would score four runs, following up with two more in the seventh and holding Ripon scoreless through three innings. The Red Hawks would get another point on the board in the bottom of the ninth but wouldn’t get an opportunity to overcome the deficit.
 
The University of Chicago ended the season with a 23-16 overall record, while Ripon College finished with an overall record of 20-23.