APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University baseball team saw its Midwest Conference Tournament come to an end Saturday morning with a 9-7 loss to the University of Chicago in an elimination game at Whiting Field.
    Lawrence had rallied twice from deficits to take a 7-6 lead before the Maroons scored three in the eighth to take the lead for good. The Vikings are now 31-11 and will have to wait to see if they receive an at-large berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament. The tournament field will be announced Monday morning at 11 a.m.
    Edan Perez went 2-for-4 with a home run, three runs batted in and two runs scored for the Vikings. Ben Gutowski went 3-for-4 and scoed a pair of runs for Lawrence. Jacob Charon and Taylor Freeman both picked up doubles for the Vikings.
    Lawrence trailed 4-1 heading to the bottom of the second when Perez blasted a three-run homer to left field to tie the game at 4-4. Chicago pulled back into the lead with a pair of runs in the fourth.
    The Vikings rallied in the fifth when Parker Knoll singled, and Charon followed with a double. Zach Leslie singled to score Knoll, and Tate Hartlaub executed a squeeze bunt to score Charon and tie the game at 6-6.
    Lawrence then grabbed the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Gutowski singled to get things started, and Perez singled to put runners at second and third. Knoll's sacrifice fly scored Gutowski to give Lawrence a 7-6 lead.
    The Maroons (19-23) then scored three times in the eighth on just two hits. A hit batsman and a pair of walks helped Chicago pull out to a 9-7 lead. The Vikings loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning, but Phil Hogan got a strikeout to end the threat. Hogan then worked around a walk in the ninth to nail down the win.