Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 RIPON, Wis. – The Grinnell College baseball team advanced to the Midwest Conference Tournament championship round Saturday, but then lost a nail-biting 4-3 decision to St. Norbert College in the title game.
 
The Pioneers opened the day with a 4-2 victory over MWC North Division champ Ripon College. Graham Fisher '16 earned the pitching win, giving up just three hits and striking out two in seven innings of work. Andrew Kelley '14 fanned three and didn't issue a run in the last two innings to get the save.
 
Walker Bell '15 had two hits for Grinnell, including a double. Matt Hammond '17 also doubled.
 
Grinnell scored all four of its runs in the fourth inning. Jacob Beecher '16 walked, Teague Towner '17 reached on an error and Bell walked to load the bases. Kainoa Inafuku '14 followed with a sacrifice fly to center and Towner scored on a wild pitch. Ryan Penaflor '16 then hit a two-run single up the middle.
 
Ripon scored solo runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
 
Penaflor had two hits in the second game, while Beecher doubled. John Essig '16 suffered the pitching loss.
 
St. Norbert took a 1-0 lead in the third, but Grinnell got a run in the fourth when Niko Takayesu '17 was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on Penaflor's bunt single, took third on an error and scored when Anthony Mack '16 hit a sacrifice fly to left.
 
St. Norbert added a run in the fifth and two in the eighth for a 4-1 lead.
 
The Pioneers then rallied to nearly tie the game in the top of the ninth. Penaflor led off with a single to center and, after an out, Matt Schaeffer '14 walked. Matt Godinsky '16 then singled to left to load the bases.
 
Beecher followed with a two-run double down the left-field line. After Eli Freese '14 was hit by a pitch to load the bases, St. Norbert then got the next two Pioneers out to claim the championship.
 
St. Norbert advances to the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament with a 23-14 mark. Grinnell concludes its campaign at 21-17.