Nick McLees allowed just one unearned run and four hits over seven innings as the UW-Oshkosh baseball team opened its seven-game trip to Florida with a 7-1 victory over Ripon College on Friday (March 16) in Auburndale.

McLees (2-1) pitched to only 25 batters, four over the minimum, while yielding a double and three singles. He struck out four batters and held the Red Hawks without a hit in the second, third and fourth innings.

Chris Atwood replaced McLees in the eighth inning and Alex Larson closed the game by retiring the Red Hawks in order in the ninth. Atwood allowed just one hit among the four batters he faced.

UW-Oshkosh (4-2) scored twice in the first and second innings and once in the third to take a 5-0 lead.

The Titans tallied two unearned runs in the first inning, one on an infield error and another when Logan Reckert was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

UW-Oshkosh doubled its advantage in the second frame on consecutive sacrifice flies from Taylor Grimm and Alex Koch. The Titans started the innings with a Noah Polcyn walk, a Jack Paulson single and a Jensen Hinton walk.

UW-Oshkosh's third-inning score was the result of Polcyn's two-out single Polcyn drove in Dylan Ott who began the inning by being hit by a pitch and later stole second base.

Both teams scored in the fourth inning, with the Red Hawks cutting their deficit to 5-1 with the help of three UW-Oshkosh errors. The Titans got the run they allowed back in the bottom half of the frame on Zack Radde's double down the leftfield line.

UW-Oshkosh created the game's final score on Koch's sixth-inning triple to center field. Koch drove in Taylor Grimm who opened inning with a double.

UW-Oshkosh got one hit each from seven players, including Grimm and Radde who had doubles and Koch who had a triple.

Ripon College (1-8) totaled five hits, four singles and a double by Michael Barnes.

Three pitchers took to the mound for the Red Hawks, including starter Alex Fox who pitched one batter into the third inning. Fox allowed one hit, but gave up five runs (three earned) while walking four batters and hitting three.

David Knapp replaced Fox and pitched five innings with six hits and two runs allowed. Chris Huettner retired the Titans in order in the ninth inning.

UW-Oshkosh takes to field against 22nd-ranked The College of Scholastica (Minn.) on Saturday (March 17) in Auburndale.

Photo by Jennifer Zuberbier