MONMOUTH, Ill. — Perennial baseball powers Ripon and Monmouth have dominated their respective Midwest Conference divisions for the past several years. However, the schools hadn’t met since 1994 to determine the championship of an MWC tournament.

That 10-year dry spell ended Saturday at Glasgow Field, and it was the North Division champion Red Hawks who captured the conference title and an automatic NCAA tournament berth, defeating Monmouth 7-3.

The Red Hawks reached the title game in dramatic fashion, as Tim Roehrig’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 13th inning defeated Illinois College 4-3. The Blueboys rallied from a 3-0 deficit with three runs in the top of the sixth and then had a golden opportunity to win the game in the top of the 13th but hit into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.

In the second semi-final, it was the Fighting Scots’ turn to rally from a 3-0 hole against St. Norbert. Jason Salmon and Alan Betourne had RBI groundouts in the third to cut the gap to 3-2, and a fourth-inning error by the Green Knights allowed Monmouth to tie the score. The Scots surged ahead on a wild pitch and an RBI single by Betourne in the sixth, and Matt Gordon drove home the final run of Monmouth’s 6-3 victory in the eighth.

Steve Myros went the distance on the mound for the Scots, allowing one earned run, seven hits and three walks while fanning three. He finished the year with a fine 6-2 record and a 2.74 ERA.

Monmouth’s Adam Carlson and undefeated Ripon hurler Dan Williams hooked up in the final of the single-elimination tourney, and a shaky first inning by Williams gave the Scots an early 1-0 lead. Williams, who entered the game with a 6-0 record and a sparkling 1.98 ERA, had two wild pitches and a balk in the first frame, but he settled down after that and was very effective.

Ripon finally got to Carlson in the fifth, tying the game on John Ernser’s solo blast, and the Red Hawks put the contest away in the next frame, plating six runs, the final three scoring on a home run by Chevy Schultz. Tom Crisp, who got the win in Ripon’s marathon semi-final win by pitching the final two innings, earned the save in the title game, coming on with the bases loaded in the eighth and Ripon ahead 7-3. Steve Turner’s lineout to second was turned into an unassisted double play, and Crisp then set down the side in order in the ninth.

Ripon moves on with a 23-12 record, while the Fighting Scots’ strong season ends at 22-12.