University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Athletics

LA CROSSE, Wis.- Looking to sneak in as the fourth seed in the conference tournament, UW-Oshkosh saw its season come to an early end at the hand of UW-La Crosse, which defeated the Titans by scores of 14-1 (7 innings) and 3-1 at Copeland Park Saturday (May 2).
 
The Titans (16-23, 12-16 WIAC) were held to 13 hits between the pair of contests with just one extra-base hit and left 16 runners on base while the Eagles (30-10, 21-7 WIAC), which will enter the WIAC Tournament (presented by Culver's) in Whitewater as the No. 2 seed, collected 18 hits, including nine for extra bases, and left 14 on base.
 
With Saturday's pair of wins, La Crosse secured its third straight season series win over the Titans. The teams split the 2023 series in Oshkosh. The Eagles have not lost a series to the Titans since going 1-3 against Oshkosh in 2018.
 
Owen Housinger (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Stevenson) led Oshkosh with two hits in Saturday's opener and Logan Schill (Pewaukee/Pewaukee) had three hits with a double and a run scored in the series finale.
 
La Crosse opened scoring with RBI singles in the first and second inning before added two more runs on an Andrew Palm home run in the third frame.
 
Jack McNamara (La Grange, Ill./Lyons) drew a two-out walk in the away half of the fifth inning and advanced to third on an error by Eagles third baseman Charley Rowan that put Danny Connelly (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) on the base path. Housinger then scored McNamara with an RBI single to left field. Schill loaded the bases on an infield single and the Titans looked to further close the 4-1 deficit, but all three runners were stranded when Trevor Morris (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) flew out to left field.
 
The Eagles homered in the bottom of the fifth for another two runs before tacking on eight runs and grinding through four Oshkosh pitchers in the sixth.
 
Oshkosh was hit by two pitches and Morris poked a single through the left side of the infield to again load the bases with two outs in the seventh inning. La Crosse again escaped with runners on each bag, striking out Cullen Kirchberg (DeForest/DeForest) and taking the shortened win.
 
Chayce Osterhaus (4-0) earned the win with six innings of one-run pitching, allowing the unearned run on four hits, a walk and a hit batter against seven strikeouts.
 
Brady Burrill went a game-high 3-for-4 at the plate with two home runs, two runs scored and five RBI.
 
Baris Brua (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) (3-4) started on the mound for Oshkosh in Saturday's second game and held the Eagles scoreless in the first two innings, facing a total of seven batters between the frames. La Crosse scored once in the third, fourth and sixth innings and he got two outs in the seventh before being relieved by Michael Hughes (Lockport, Ill./Lockport).
 
Brua finished his freshman season with a 6.2-inning outing that included eight strikeouts, including three in the sixth inning, against three runs on six hits and two walks.
 
La Crosse scored first in game two with a two-out RBI single in the third inning. The Eagles added a leadoff home run in the fourth before McNamara scored Schill on a single to left center field in the sixth frame.
 
The Eagles Emiliano Ramos knocked his second leadoff home run in the bottom of the sixth inning before Brua punched out the next three batters in order.
 
Down two runs, Aaron Davis (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) led off the top of the ninth with a single and Brenden Max (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) joined him with a single of his own. A strikeout, a fly out and another strikeout after Ben Volpe (Whitefish Bay/Whitefish Bay) came on to pinch run for Max left both runners on the field when the game ended.
 
Oshkosh starter Connor Walters (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) (3-4) was assigned the loss after he allowed eight runs (seven earned) in five innings of work. He scattered seven hits and walked four Eagles against five strikeouts.
 
Hoyt Keller (Wautoma/Wautoma) and Parker Thompson (Wauwatosa/Wauwatosa East) both gave up three runs before Kael Johns (Waukesha/Catholic Memorial) finished out the game.
 
Oshkosh will graduate 12 seniors this spring, including Walters, a 2024 All-WIAC First Team selection. Walters went 15-11 in 36 appearances and 33 starts between 2023 and 2026. Across an even 200 innings pitched, he accumulated a 5.04 earned run average with 137 runs allowed (112 earned) on 237 hits. He struck out 150 batters against 53 walks and threw five complete games.
 
Career highlights for Walters include pitching all nine innings of Oshkosh's 2025 NCAA Division III Regional championship win over University of Chicago (Ill.), combining with Joe Richardson (Lake Forest, Ill./Stevenson) for the 13th no-hitter in program history in the Titans' season-opening win over Concordia Moorhead (Minn.) on March 5, and fanning 15 batters during his complete-game victory over UW-Stout at home on April 26.
 
In 2026, the Titans posted a losing WIAC record for the first time since 2019 when the team went 11-13 before the league expanded to a 28-game schedule for the 2025 campaign. Their 16 overall wins were the fewest since going 15-23 in 2012.