AUBURNDALE, Fla.- UW-Oshkosh baseball finished its four-game trip to Florida on Sunday (March 8) against the University of Mount Union (Ohio). The Purple Raiders jumped on starting pitcher
Ryan Richter (Waukesha/Waukesha West) for three runs and never trailed in the 9-4 win.
Mount Union (9-2), which is receiving votes in both the D3baseball.com and American Baseball Coaches Association, chased Richter (0-1) after the Purple Raiders scored three runs as six of its first seven batters reached base.
With the win, the Purple Raiders tied the all-time series with the No. 19/14 Titans (2-2), 1-1.
Richter allowed a leadoff walk but got a quick out in the following at-bat by inducing a fielder's choice. Mount Union then recorded four singles in a row, including a 2-RBI hit through the left side of the infield, and added another run on a bases-loaded walk before
Joe Richardson (Lake Forest, Ill./Stevenson) came in as relief and got his first two batters on swinging strikes.
Richardson threw the next 3.2 innings, allowing one more run on one hit and three walks while he added six more strikeouts – two each in the second, third and fourth frames.
UW-Oshkosh totaled nine hits on the day, got a team-best two from
Gavin Persson (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North), including a double, and one from seven other Titans.
Aaron Davis (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) recorded a pair of RBIs with his single and
Jack McKellips (Oshkosh/Lourdes Academy) scored twice.
The Titans responded in the top of the second inning. McKellips hit a leadoff single and
Cash Kaczmarek (Barrington, Ill./Lake Zurich) followed with another to put two Titans on the basepath with no outs.
Danny Connelly (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) moved both runners up with a sacrifice bunt and after Mount Union got its second out, Davis sent a pitch through the left side of the infield, scoring both McKellips and Kaczmarek to cut the deficit to 3-2.
The Purple Raiders saw four more Oshkosh pitchers in
Hoyt Keller (Wautoma/Wautoma),
Colton Kachinsky (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West),
Parker Thompson (Wauwatosa/Wauwatosa East) and
Kael Johns (Waukesha/Catholic Memorial) across the last five innings, adding a run in the fifth and eighth innings and two runs in both the sixth and seventh.
Oshkosh scored its final run of the day when
Evan Olson (Appleton/Appleton East) beat out an infield single that sent Persson home from second base.
The Titans return to the Midwest to play three games in Sauget, Ill. between March 13-15. They face Webster University (Mo.) (4-8) at 3 p.m. on Friday (March 13), the Milwaukee School of Engineering (6-4) at 4 p.m. on Saturday (March 14) and Hanover College (Ind.) (3-6) at 11 a.m. next Sunday (March 15).
