Head Baseball Coach Dave DeGeorge became the Midwest Conference all-time wins leader with his 445th career victory as the Buccaneers split their MWC North Division opener with Ripon College. DeGeorge took over the top spot from former St. Norbert coach Tom Winske with Beloit's 4-2 win in game one. The Bucs dropped the nightcap 6-0 on a fantastic day at The Ballpark at Strong Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The Red Hawks opened the scoring Saturday plating the first two runs of the game on a double to right center in the top of the fourth.
The Bucs cut the gap in half in the bottom of the sixth. Garrison Ferone was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Jalen Davis followed with a single through the right side. With two outs, Bronson Balholm notched the clutch RBI single to left field to plate Ferone and make it 2-1.
Beloit came up big with two outs again in the seventh. Nick Schmidt struck out swinging but the ball got away from the catcher allowing Schmidt to reach first. Ferone singled on a bunt and a bad throw allowed the runners to advance to second and third. Davis drew a walk to load the bases and Ethan Conley ripped a three-RBI double to left center to give the Bucs a 4-2 lead.
The Buc defense sat the Red Hawks down in order in the eighth and ninth to seal DeGeorge's 445th win.
Conley, Balholm and Freitag each tallied two hits in the game with both of Conley's of the two-bagger type.
Danny Belling went the distance for the complete game win on the mound striking out three without issuing a free pass while scattering five hits over nine innings to improve to 2-1 on the season.
The Bucs offense was stymied the nightcap as Beloit tallied five hits, three off the bat of Austin De La Cruz but couldn't push a run across. Ripon plated two in the third, three in the sixth and another in the ninth for the win.
Justin Kopech suffered the loss on the mound striking out two and walking three in six innings of work.
The Bucs will complete the series with Ripon Sunday with a doubleheader beginning at noon.
