MADISON, Wis.- UW-Oshkosh is projected to place second in the 2026 WIAC baseball standings, according to a poll conducted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
 
Oshkosh enters the season ranked 18th in the NCAA Division III by D3baseball.com and 14th by the American Baseball Coaches Association. The Titans brings back 26 letterwinners from last year's team that went 35-16 (20-8 WIAC), won the NCAA Saint Peter (Minn.) Regional and finished the campaign ranked 15th by D3baseball.com and 13th by the ABCA.
 
Defending Division III and WIAC championship UW-Whitewater tops the conference preseason poll and heads into the season as the consensus top-ranked team in the country.
 
Following Oshkosh in the WIAC preseason poll are UW-La Crosse in third, UW-Platteville fourth, UW-Stevens Point fifth, UW-River Falls sixth, UW-Stout seventh and UW-Eau Claire eighth. La Crosse ranks 23rd in the preseason by D3baseball.com and 15th in the ABCA poll.
 
Whitewater (49-6, 24-4 WIAC) won last year's regular season title by one game over La Crosse (35-11, 23-5). The Titans were third, followed by Platteville (20-21, 13-15 WIAC) in fourth, Stout (14-26, 12-16) fifth, Stevens Point (15-25, 10-18) sixth, River Falls (13-27, 6-22) seventh and Eau Claire (11-29, 4-24) eighth.
 
Oshkosh's 35 overall wins and 20 league victories last season were its most since going 35-12, including 20-4 in the WIAC, during the 2007 campaign. The Titans went on to claim their first regional title since 2003 and reach the super regional round for the first time. Oshkosh fell one win shy of making its 18th Division III World Series appearance, falling two games to one in a best-of-three super regional at UW-Whitewater.
 
Oshkosh ranked fifth nationally with 588 hits last year while also pacing the conference in stolen bases (114) and shutouts (5). The Titans earned an at-large berth into the Division III Championship after advancing to the WIAC Tournament final. They scored 62 runs in four games en route to winning the Saint Peter Regional, opening the four-team tournament with a 34-8 romp over University of Chicago (Ill.) and clinching the regional title with a 10-2 decision over Chicago.
 
The Titans then forced a decisive Game 3 at the Whitewater Super Regional with a 5-2 triumph in the second contest. However, Whitewater won the third game over Oshkosh and proceeded to win six in a row at the World Series to secure the national title.
 
Thirteenth-year head coach Kevin Tomasiewicz welcomes back four starters to the lineup and another four with starting pitching experience.
 
Previous All-WIAC First Team pitchers Brett Gaynor (Long Grove, Ill./Stevenson) and Connor Walters (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) headline the returning Titans, who also bring back a trio of All-WIAC Honorable Mention selections in pitchers Josh Jansen (DeForest/DeForest) and Ryan Richter (Waukesha/Waukesha West), and outfielder Logan Schill (Pewaukee/Pewaukee).
 
Gaynor and Walters, who earned all-conference honors in 2024, combined to go 12-8 on the mound in 28 total appearances, including 23 starts, while Jansen was 9-2 with a team-high 80 strikeouts in 84 innings pitched, and Richter made a team-leading 21 appearances, including 18 in relief. Gaynor led the WIAC with three complete games.
 
Schill, the WIAC leader with six triples, batted .309 last season, tied for the team lead with eight home runs, and stole 24 bases.
 
Infielder Owen Housinger (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Stevenson) and catcher Jack McNamara (La Grange, Ill./Lyons) are also back for the Titans. Housinger, who hit .344 last season, made 48 starts among his 49 games played last year. McNamara batted .290 with 15 extra-base hits in 2025.
 
Reigning national champion Whitewater returns 17 letterwinners from a squad that led the nation in runs (569), batting average (.365), slugging percentage (.615), hits (734), home runs (111) and doubles (128) while ranking sixth nationally with a 3.39 earned run average.
 
A pair of Warhawks – catcher Aaron Holland and infielder Andy Thies – were named to the 2026 D3baseball.com Preseason All-America Team. Holland led the division with 94 hits last year. Thies hit 15 home runs and drove in 69 runs.
 
La Crosse brings back 17 letterwinners, including 2025 WIAC Newcomer of the Year AJ Curtis, but must replace all but two players from last year's starting lineup. The Eagles were sixth in Division III last season 67 home runs.
 
Platteville, which qualified for last season's four-team WIAC Tournament for the first time since 2021, welcomes back 22 letterwinners, including the nation's toughest batter to strike out, Caleb Parker, who went down on strikes every 52 at-bats.
 
Stevens Point returns 28 letterwinners as it seeks to make its fifth WIAC Tournament trip in six years after missing the league postseason last season.
 
River Falls and Eau Claire are in pursuit of their first winning seasons this century. River Falls, which brought back its program in 2025 after a 21-year hiatus, last had a winning record in 1998 (19-14). Eau Claire, which restarted its program in 2021 after dropping the sport after 1995, went 22-15 in 1995.
 
Stout returns 18 letterwinners from a team that finished one win short of reaching the WIAC Tournament last year.
 
The 28-game conference schedule for each team begins on March 28. The top four teams in the standings will secure a spot in the double-elimination WIAC Tournament (presented by Culver's) that will be conducted May 7-9 at the No. 1 seed. The winner of the tournament receives the conference's automatic NCAA bid.
 
Oshkosh begins the nonconference portion of the season Saturday (Feb. 21) at North Park University (Ill.) before heading to Florida for four contests March 5-8. The Titans open conference play with home doubleheaders March 28-29 against UW-Eau Claire at Tiedemann Field at Alumni Stadium.