APPLETON, Wis. – The University of Chicago baseball team advanced to the Midwest Conference Tournament championship with a win over Ripon College before absorbing a narrow loss to Lawrence University on Saturday.

The Maroons wrapped up their 2022 season with a 23-16 overall record.

Game One – UChicago 9, Ripon 4

UChicago and Ripon faced off in the morning contest to see which team would move on to the MWC championship game against No. 1-seed Lawrence. The two teams had met the previous day as well in the MWC opener, which the Maroons won 16-14 thanks to a walk-off homer.

The scoring on Saturday did not reach the previous day's level, but the Maroons were able to do their damage in the middle frames, scoring all their runs between the fourth and seventh innings.

UChicago evened up the score at 2-2 in the fourth. Sophomore Truman Pierson led off with a double down the left field line and scored on senior Carson Weekley's single to left. Weekley would eventually work his way to third base, setting the table for sophomore Dominick Angellotti to drive him in with a single through the left side.

The Maroons took the lead in the fifth inning thanks to first-year Josh Peyton's RBI single. Ripon would tie the game back up in the bottom of the frame.

The rest of the way was all UChicago. Four runs came in during the sixth. With the bases loaded, first-year Jack Goldstein went the other way and knocked in two with a single down the right field line. Sophomore Noah Nelson scored on a wild pitch soon after, followed by Pierson's RBI sacrifice fly to make it 7-3. The advantage ballooned to 9-3 in the top of the seventh with Angellotti's two-run single up the middle.

On the mound, rookie Hayden Leiderman kept the Red Hawks at bay with four innings of relief. The sidearm-throwing righty picked up his second save of the year and struck out four batters. He allowed one unearned run and one walk.

Junior starting pitcher Michael Allegri got the win to improve to 3-2. He pitched the opening five innings, posting three strikeouts, three runs and one walk.

UChicago ended up with 15 hits, three stolen bases and one error. Angellotti batted 3-for-4 with three RBI and a walk. Pierson (one RBI), Weekley (one RBI), senior Brett Riegler and Nelson collected two hits each.

Game Two – Lawrence 7, UChicago 6

In the afternoon contest, UChicago needed to beat Lawrence twice in order to claim the conference title. The Maroons got off to a fast start with three runs in the top of the first. With the bases loaded, junior Blane Soper absorbed a hit-by-pitch to force in the first run. Angellotti then worked an RBI walk of his own, and Nelson's RBI groundout put the score at 3-0.

The two teams exchanged runs in the second inning, with Riegler providing a two-out RBI single to center. UChicago then went ahead 6-2 in the fourth. Riegler came through with another run-scoring single and Weekley backed him up with an RBI single of his own.

However, the Vikings got back into the game with two runs in the fifth and grabbed the lead with three in the sixth.

UChicago had one last chance in the top of the ninth, putting two runners in scoring position. But Lawrence was able to secure the next two outs to clinch the victory.

The Maroons concluded with 11 hits, four steals and two errors. Weekley was 4-for-5 at the plate with an RBI. Riegler went 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Peyton hit 2-for-5 with two steals.

First-year pitcher Edmund Hogan hurled the first four innings, posting two unearned runs and three strikeouts. Junior Hayden Brotz (0.1 IP, 2 R), junior Matthew Guyton (1.1 IP, 3 R) and first-year Ethan Docter (2.1 IP) made relief appearances, with Guyton absorbing the loss.