DE PERE, Wis. – In what's already turned out to be a magical season became even more so as Grinnell College's baseball team advanced to the Midwest Conference championship matchup for just the third time Saturday.
 
The Pioneers erupted for four runs in the top of the ninth inning to rally past MWC Tournament host St. Norbert College 11-8.
 
The victory sends Grinnell to a matchup Saturday with Beloit College. If the Pioneers win, the two teams meet again later Saturday to determine the league champ and recipient of the automatic berth to the NCAA Division III National Tournament.
 
In the ninth inning, Graham Fisher led off with a single and went to second on Matt Hammond's sacrifice bunt. Matt Godinsky then singled, sending Fisher to third before Niko Takayesu delivered a perfect bunt to score Fisher and tie the game at 8-all.
 
A groundout sent Godinksy to third and Takayesu to second before both were plated on a single by Michael Slattery, making it 10-8. Anthony Mack followed with an RBI triple to give Grinnell some breathing room.
 
Grinnell opened the contest with a four-run top of the first inning as Matt Godinsky belted a three-run homer and San Galanek a run-scoring double.
 
The hosts scored solo runs in the bottom of the first and second to cut it to 4-2, but Grinnell got a run back in the fourth on Ryan Penaflor's RBI.
 
St. Norbert made it 5-3 in the fifth and went ahead 7-5 in the sixth before the Pioneers scored twice in the seventh on a two-run homer by Hammond.
 
St. Norbert went ahead 8-7 in the bottom of the eighth before the Pioneers' big inning.
 
Sam Tinkham, the starter on the mound in Friday's second game, came on in relief for Grinnell to earn the victory to improve to 6-1. Godinsky earned the save, his eighth of the season for a new Pioneer record.
 
Mack finished the game with four hits for Grinnell, while Godinsky had three.
 
Grinnell added to its program record for wins by moving to 30-7 on the season. St. Norbert ends the season at 20-17.