GALESBURG, Illinois - The Prairie Fire baseball team dropped a pair of conference games to Ripon on Saturday afternoon.
The Red Hawks scored twice in the top of the first, but Knox responded with two of their own on an Evan Laws triple and a single from Henry Scholes.
Ripon added a third run in the second inning before the Prairie Fire erupted for five in the bottom half. Laws drove in a run on a groundout and Jason Clark plated a pair on a single. Scholes then homered to bring home Clark.
The Red Hawks scored three in the third to climb back into the game, but Knox got a home-run from Tyler Kemp in the bottom half.
Ripon scored three more in the fourth and Knox responded with two more on a homer from Clark.
The Red Hawks again plated three in the fifth to take a 12-10 lead. The Prairie Fire got one more run in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly from Clark.
Knox got two runners on in the ninth, but came up just short of the comeback.
In game two, the Prairie Fire scored first when Clark drove home Laws on a double.
Ripon scored twice in the second and then erupted for four runs in the fifth, two in the sixth, and four in the seventh to take the early victory.
Clark led Knox with five hits and six RBI on the day. Sholes and Laws each added three hits.
The Prairie Fire will conclude their season on May 5 as they celebrate senior day against Ripon.