OSHKOSH, Wis.- The UW-Oshkosh baseball team opened its 2025 WIAC schedule on Thursday (March 27), hosting UW-Platteville. The Titans put up winning scores of 4-0 and 11-6 and never trailed after the first inning in either contest.
 
UW-Oshkosh (11-3, 2-0 WIAC), receiving votes in both the D3baseball.com and American Baseball Coaches Association polls this week, recorded its 15 runs on 22 hits, five of which went extra bases including a pair of home runs. Titan pitchers held the Pioneers (5-5, 0-2 WIAC) to 15 hits while striking out 13 batters.
 
Mason Kirchberg (Sr. • DeForest) hit for the cycle on the day, going 4-for-8 from the plate with a walk and notched two RBIs and three runs.
 
Kirchberg was one of three Titans to go 2-for-4 in the series opener, joined by Nick Shiu (Sr. • Gurnee, Ill.) and Zach Taylor (Grad. • Long Grove, Ill.).
 
The starting pitcher against Platteville in game one was Connor Brinkman (Sr. • New London). The All-WIAC stalwart pitched a nine-inning complete game, the ninth of his career. Brinkman allowed just three hits and struck out six across his 32 batters faced to move to 3-1 on the season. He put the Pioneers down in order four times and Platteville reached scoring position only twice.
 
Logan Schill (So. • Pewaukee) led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk and scored Oshkosh's first run when Carter Stebane (Sr. • Brillion) singled through the left side.
 
The Titans extended their lead in the second inning when Kirchberg reached home on a fielder's choice error and Owen Housinger (Jr. • Hawthorn Woods, Ill.) scored on a single by Shiu.
 
The WIAC foes held each other scoreless for the next five innings with the score stagnant at 3-1 in Oshkosh's favor.
 
With one out in the eighth inning, Taylor hit his second home run of the season over the left field fence to increase UW-Oshkosh's lead to 4-1.
 
Brinkman faced a fifth batter in a single inning for the second time in the top of the ninth. A Pioneer runner reached second before he forced a pair of flyouts to seal the win.
 
Jake Surane (Grad. • Lincolnshire, Ill.) and Kirchberg both recorded two RBIs in game two while Kirchberg and Schill each scored twice. After hitting a double in the first game, Kirchberg had a single, a double, and a two-run home run in the second.
 
Connor Walters (Jr. • Libertyville, Ill.) got the start in the nightcap, going six innings with three strikeouts while allowing four earned runs on seven hits and three walks. He moved to a 3-1 record. Parker Thompson (Jr. • Wauwatosa), Ryan Richter (Fr. • Waukesha), and Nick Rector (Sr. • Sewell, N.J.) each threw an inning of relief. Richter and Rector both struck out a pair of batters
 
In a busy game, only the seventh inning saw no runs scored. Oshkosh tallied 13 hits while Platteville had 12.
 
The Pioneers got on the board first in the second game by plating a run on a single in the top of the first inning. Shiu responded in the bottom half of the frame with an RBI groundout that scored Surane. Surane then scored on a sacrifice foul out by Taylor.
 
Platteville retied the score at 2-2 in the second and followed a Schill run in the bottom of the third with a solo home run in the fourth to make the score 3-3.
 
The Titans opened the lead with a sacrifice fly by Brenden Max (Jr. • Libertyville, Ill.) and a two-RBI single by Surane in the bottom of the fourth. They then expanded on the edge in the following inning. Taylor sent Kirchberg home on a single, Housinger scored Taylor with a single, and Max crossed the plate when Danny Connelly (So. • Mundelein, Ill.) hit a sacrifice fly.
 
UW-Oshkosh led 9-3 by the end of the inning. Platteville wouldn't let the Titans get comfortable however, and added three runs between the sixth and eighth innings.
 
After Shiu doubled to lead off the bottom of the eighth, Jack McKellips (Jr. • Oshkosh) pinch ran for him. In the following at-bat, Kirchberg wrapped up his cycle with a two-run shot over the fence for an 11-6 lead.
 
Rector shut the door on the Pioneers in the ninth inning with a groundout and two strikeouts.
 
The Titans and Pioneers will wrap up the series with two more games on Friday (March 28). The first game is scheduled to start at noon.