APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University baseball team swept Cornell College in a Midwest Conference doubleheader on Saturday to earn a berth in the Midwest Conference Tournament.
    Lawrence won the opener 8-3 and took the second game 7-1 at Whiting Field. Lawrence, which is in the conference tournament for the third time in four seasons, remains tied for first place. A win over the Rams in the regular-season finale on Sunday would clinch at least a share of the conference championship and the right to host the MWC Tournament on May 9-10.
    In the opener, four Lawrence pitchers limited the Rams to three hits. The Vikings took control with four runs in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth.
    Edan Perez went 2-for-5 in the opener and broke Lawrence's career hits record in the process. Sage Beebe-Jenny went 2-for-3 and scored twice, and Ben Gutowski was 2-for-4 for the Vikings. Zach Leslie doubled and drove in three runs, Taylor Freeman scored twice and drove in two runs and CJ Filipek had a pair of runs batted in for Lawrence (19-17, 13-7 MWC).
    Lawrence trailed 1-0 in the third when Gutowski led off the inning with a single. After two walks, Freeman reached on a fielder's choice and drove home Gutowski to tie the game at 1-1.
    The Vikings started to pull away in the fifth as Beebe-Jenny started the rally with a single. Freeman and Filipek both followed with run-scoring singles, and Leslie delivered a two-run double to put Lawrence up 5-1.
    Lawrence tacked on three more in the sixth as Filipek and Leslie both drove in runs, and Shane Santaga singled to drive in a run for an 8-1 lead. 
    Nathan Zumbrunnen pitched four innings of one-hit relief to get the win and improve to 4-0 on the season. He struck out two and walked two. David Jachimiak finished with 2.1 innings of hitless relief to close out the Rams ((14-24, 6-14).
    Lawrence jumped on Cornell early in the second game as three Vikings' pitchers allowed just one run on seven hits. 
    Filipek went 3-for-5, scored twice and drove in two runs, and Gutowski went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple. Perez went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, and Freeman was 2-for-5 with two runs scored. 
    Lawrence scored three times in the first as Filipek picked up a run-scoring single. Leslie was hit by a pitch to drive in another run, and Santaga's ground ball plated another run. 
    Gutowski started another rally when he tripled to open the second inning. Tate Hartlaub's sacrifice fly scored Gutowski for a 4-0 lead. Freeman later singled, stole second and scored on Filipek's single. Freeman broke Lawrence's career stolen base record in the game. 
    Lawrence added single runs in the fifth and eighth for the final margin.