EAU CLAIRE, Wis.- The UW-Oshkosh baseball team completed its second series sweep of a conference opponent this season with a 2-0, 12-inning win over UW-Eau Claire in Sunday's (April 13) first game and a 14-2 win in the finale.
Receiving votes in both the D3baseball.com and American Baseball Coaches Association national polls this week, the Titans (18-8, 9-5 WIAC) previously won all four games against UW-Platteville at home on March 27-28.
Connor Brinkman (Sr. • New London) started the first game and pitched 7.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts against five hits and four walks.
Nick Rector (Sr. • Sewell, N.J.) came in for 1.1 innings of relief. He allowed a hit and a walk while striking out one.
Ryan Richter (Fr. • Waukesha) finished the extended contest with three innings of work and earned his second win of the year.
Owen Housinger (Jr. • Hawthorn Woods, Ill.) went 3-for-5 in the contest, however it was
Jack McNamara (Jr. • LaGrange, Ill.) who sent the first run home and scored the second to break the 0-0 tie in the top of the 12th inning.
Oshkosh and Eau Claire struggled to put runners in scoring position, each only putting one on third base before the eighth inning when Housinger saved a run by throwing to home on a fielder's choice.
After a leadoff single for
Carter Stebane (Sr. • Brillion) in the top of the 12th, the next two batters flew out, threatening to send the game to the bottom of the inning and the possibility of a walk off win for the Blugolds. During McNamara's at-bat, Stebane stole second and third before scoring on a McNamara double.
Logan Schill (So. • Pewaukee) then sent McNamara across the plate with a triple.
The Titans' starter in game two was
Connor Walters (Jr. • Libertyville, Ill.), who improved his season mark to 4-2 with seven innings of work. He struck out five batters and allowing two runs on seven hits.
Parker Thompson (Jr. • Wauwatosa) threw one relief inning and tallied a pair of strikeouts before
Aaron Huibregtse (Sr. • Oostburg) tossed the final frame.
Oshkosh's bats stayed hot in the second game as two batters had three hits led by
Jake Surane (Grad. • Lincolnshire, Ill.) who hit 3-for-6 with two runs and three RBIs. Stebane hit a three-run home run before adding two more runs and another RBI.
The Titans got on the board first in the fourth game of the series when Kirchberg doubled to left center to send Surane home.
Schill hit his third leadoff home run of the season in the third inning, putting Oshkosh up 2-0.
Nick Shiu (Sr. • Gurnee, Ill.) and Surane each singled in the following two at-bats and later scored when Stebane homered to clear the bases.
UW-Oshkosh tallied a run in the sixth on a Housinger sacrifice fly and a run in the seventh on a Surane single to increase its edge to 7-0 before the Blugolds scored their only two runs of the day in the bottom half of the seventh inning.
After tallying a run on a Shiu single in the eighth inning, the Titans crossed the plate six more times in the ninth.
Kirchberg scored on an error, Taylor scored on a Housinger single, Stebane scored on a bases loaded walk, Housinger and
Brenden Max (Jr. • Libertyville, Ill.) scored on a Surane single, and McNamara recorded Oshkosh's 14th run on an error.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Huibregtse forced a groundout before a runner reached on a single through the left side. He proceeded to end the Titans' trip up north by inducing a double play.
The Titans host UW-Rivers Falls (10-14, 4-9 WIAC) for the first time since 2002 on Friday and Saturday (April 18-19) at Tiedemann Field. Oshkosh holds a 26-5 all-time record against the Falcons dating back to the teams' first meeting during the 1969 season.
