BELOIT, Wisconsin - The Prairie Fire baseball team dropped a close 4-2 conference game to Beloit on Sunday afternoon.

The Buccaneers pushed across three runs in the bottom of the second inning to take an early lead.

Evan Laws hit a solo home-run in the top of the fourth to bring Knox within two.

Beloit tacked on a run in the bottom of the fourth, but the Prairie Fire held them scoreless the rest of the way.

Knox tallied one more run in the ninth, but finished the game with the tying run at the plate.

Laws led the Prairie Fire with three hits on the day and Knox outhit the Buccaneers 7-6 overall, but came out on the losing end of the final game of the three game series.

Jeff Ripka gave up one run in 3.2 innings of relief and Brandon Ward threw three shutout innings to keep the game close.

"We responded well after a tough loss yesterday," said associate head coach James Clark. "We have been hitting the ball hard the last few games, but just can't get them to fall with runners on base. I am confident that we will score runs, now we need to limit walks and errors and we'll be right there."

The Prairie Fire will return to action on April 10 as they travel to Monmouth for a doubleheader.