Baitinger Throws Second No-Hitter in Division III Tournament History

Box Score

     Ripon�s Jordan Baitinger enjoyed an historic night on the opening day of the NCAA Division III baseball regional in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. on Wednesday with just the second no-hitter in tournament history in the Red Hawks� 4-1 win over St. Olaf.

     Baitinger, a senior lefthander from Fremont, Wis., forced the Oles into 19 groundouts and struck out five. His feat matched only Norm Charlesworth of Glassboro State (now Rowan), who no-hit Johns Hopkins on May 15, 1980 in an identical 4-1 win.

     Ripon is now 22-13 and advances to face St. Thomas on Thursday at 7 p.m., while St. Olaf fell to 31-9 overall and takes on UW-Stevens Point on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.

     It was the second straight year Baitinger and the Red Hawks have handed the Oles their first loss in the regional as Ripon posted a 7-4 victory last year in Wisconsin Rapids. Baitinger pitched seven and two-thirds innings and allowed six hits and one earned run in last year�s triumph.

     The Oles had few hard-hit balls the entire game and had perhaps its best chances for a hit in the sixth inning when they scored their only run, but Baitinger made two solid defensive plays himself. After Luke Gagnon was hit by a pitch to open the inning, Pat Wadzinski hit a slow roller between first base and the pitcher�s mound. First baseman Bo Johnson fielded the ball and flipped to Baitinger, who beat Wadzinski on a close play at the bag. Josh Maus then reached on a throwing error by the shortstop and Carson Jones drove in the run with a groundout to third base. Andrew Schmiesing ended the inning with a sharp grounder that appeared headed up the middle, but Baitinger snagged to end the threat.

     Ripon already led 4-0 by that point, but stranded several runners with chances to extend its lead. The Red Hawks scored a first inning run on a sacrifice fly by John Dunlavy and then added three more runs after two outs and nobody on base in the fifth.

     Mac Shumann hit a soft grounder in front of home plate and Wadzinski slipped before making the play for a single to start the big inning. Dunlavy followed with a double and Chevy Schultz walked before Johnson had a run-scoring single and Alex Duros delivered a two-run single.

     St. Olaf had a chance in the eighth when Baitinger hit the first two batters, but Maus hit a grounder directly to third base that he barely beat out at first to avoid a triple play. Baitinger forced three more groundouts in the ninth to complete the gem. Shortstop Kyle McFarland had nine assists for Ripon.

     The Red Hawks left two runners on base in the third, fourth and fifth innings and stranded three in the seventh to finish with 10 for the game. Chad Olson, Dunlavy and Duros each had two hits in their 10-hit attack.

     Alex Sommer took the loss for St. Olaf, allowing all 10 hits in six innings before Andy Dimick provided two hitless innings of relief.