Eagles Spoil Titans' WIAC Opener
Stellar pitching performances led UW-La Crosse to two victories over the UW-Oshkosh baseball team in the conference opener for both teams on Thursday (April 2) at Tiedemann Field.
The Titans (8-6, 0-2 WIAC) had their eight-game winning streak snapped, 6-3, in the home opener, and the Eagles (9-3, 2-0 WIAC) prevailed, 3-1, in the second contest.
Jameson Sadowske earned saves in both ends of the doubleheader to preserve wins by Eagle starting pitchers Caleb Boushley in the opener and Troy Kenkel in the nightcap.
In the first game, UW-La Crosse opened the scoring with a run in the top of the third inning, but UW-Oshkosh tied it up on a sacrifice fly by Logan Reckert in the bottom of the frame.
UW-La Crosse's Eric Vatch hit a home run to lead off the fifth inning before Reckert knotted the score once again in the Titans' half of the frame with a run-scoring double.
The Eagles mounted a three-run rally on four consecutive hits with two outs and the bases empty in the sixth inning. Ben Morgan scored the go-ahead run with a double, Bryce Barsness followed with a run-scoring double and Vatch's single gave UW-La Crosse a 5-2 lead.
A run-scoring groundout by John Eagan trimmed UW-Oshkosh's deficit to 5-3 in the seventh inning, but the Eagles tallied the final run of the contest on a two-out infield single by Joel Zyhowski in the eighth.
Sadowske closed out the game with three strikeouts in two perfect innings.
Justin Anderson, Travis Buxton-Verstegen and Vatch each had two of the Eagles' 11 hits.
Boushley (1-1) allowed three runs on seven hits in seven innings pitched to earn the win. He struck out three batter and walked two.
Peter Jewell (2-1) took the loss for UW-Oshkosh after allowing six runs (five earned) on 11 hits and striking out five batters in 7.2 innings pitched.
In the second contest, Kenkel (2-0) had nine strikeouts and allowed just three hits in eight shutout innings to outduel Titan starting pitcher Ben Messenger (1-2), who gave up three runs on six hits while striking out eight batters in 7.1 innings pitched.
UW-La Crosse took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on a two-out, two-run double by Morgan.
Kenkel didn't allow a hit until a Noah Polcyn single with one out in the sixth inning.
The Titans singled twice in the seventh inning, but the Eagles escaped trouble on Taylor Kohlwey's outfield assist at second base.
UW-La Crosse added an insurance run on a wild pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth inning.
Sadowske picked up his fourth save of the season despite allowing a run in the ninth inning. He began the inning by walking Eagan, who came around to score on a two-out single by Andy Brahier.
With the potential tying run at the plate, Sadowske recorded his second strikeout of the inning to close out the game.
Morgan had two of the Eagles' six hits. Brahier had two of the Titans' four hits, which were all singles.
UW-Oshkosh hosts UW-La Crosse for a doubleheader on Friday (April 3) at Tiedemann Field.