APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University baseball team gave up a five-run eighth inning Friday afternoon en route to a 9-6 loss to Beloit College in the Midwest Conference Tournament at Whiting Field.
   The Vikings are now in an elimination game Saturday morning at 9 a.m. against the University of Chicago. Beloit advances to the championship game Saturday at noon.
   Lawrence trailed 4-3 heading to the bottom of the eighth when the Bucs (23-15) scored five runs on just two hits as the Vikings walked four batters, including two with the bases loaded.
   Trailing 9-3 heading to the ninth, Lawrence's
Parker Knoll hit a three-run homer to cut the deficit in half but that's where the rally ended.
   Lawrence (31-10) had nine hits in the contest but couldn't put together a big inning.
Taylor Freeman was 2-for-3 with a triple and a run batted in, and
Tate Hartlaub and
Edan Perez also had two hits apiece.
   The Vikings led 1-0 when they scored in the third on Perez's run-scoring single. Beloit took the lead with three runs in the fourth, but the Vikings tied it in the sixth.
Jacob Charon started that rally with a walk, and he scored on Freeman's triple.
William Zatkowski's single then scored Freeman to tie the game at 3-3.
   Beloit scratched out a run in the bottom of the sixth (Beloit was the home team) to take the lead and then pulled away in the eighth.
   Ben Schweit allowed three runs over six innings to get the win, and Harvey Pena pitched three innings of relief for the save.
Quinn Berglin went only four innings for the Vikings, and
Brandon Brust took the loss in relief.
