Titans End Florida Trip With Loss To Fifth-Ranked Huskies
University of Southern Maine pitcher Shyler Scates scattered 15 hits in a complete-game effort as the nationally ranked Huskies defeated the UW-Oshkosh baseball team, 7-4, on Thursday (March 24) in Winter Haven, Fla.
UW-Oshkosh outhit the University of Southern Maine, 15-12, but Scates recorded 24 of his 27 outs on the infield and the Huskies turned three double plays.
University of Southern Maine (6-2), ranked fifth in the NCAA Division III by D3baseball.com, never trailed after scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Huskies added two runs in the third and eighth innings and a single tally in the fifth.
Scates recorded one strikeout without issuing a walk.
Sam Stauble paced the Huskies with three hits while Sam Dexter scored twice and added two hits, including the game's lone extra-base hit on a third-inning double.
Titans starting pitcher Colan Treml took the loss after ceding five runs (three earned) on seven hits while registering three strikeouts across five innings. UW-Oshkosh relief pitcher Max Keough went the final three innings, yielding two runs on five hits with two strikeouts.
UW-Oshkosh (3-8) received three hits each from Andy Brahier, Taylor Grimm and Robbie Kleman.
University of Southern Maine leadoff batter Nick DiBiase reached on an error by Treml in the first inning. He came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Dexter. Jake Glauser then added another sacrifice fly following consecutive singles by Paul McDonough and Stauble.
Dexter doubled to lead off the Huskies third inning, and McDonough followed with a run-scoring single. McDonough eventually stole third base and scored on a throwing error on the play by Grimm, the Titan catcher.
UW-Oshkosh cut its deficit to 4-3 with three runs on five consecutive hits and two Huskies errors in the fourth inning. Johnny Eagan led off the frame with a single. Eagan's safety preceded singles from Brahier, Kleman, Tyler Kozlowski and Alex Koch that scored two runs.
With the bases loaded with no outs, Zack Radde lined into a double play. Scates then tried to pick off trail runner Kozlowski at second base, but his throw went into the outfield, allowing Kleman to score from third base. Huskies center fielder Nick Bowie's throw back into the infield was wide of third base, but Kozlowski was ruled out on the play because the errant throw hit a UW-Oshkosh player outside of the Titan dugout.
Clinging to a 4-3 lead, the University of Southern Maine tallied the eventual decisive run on a Stauble single in the fifth inning.
The Huskies added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning. Bowie and Kyle Heath singled to lead off the inning before Dexter's sacrifice fly gave his team a 5-3 advantage. DiBiase followed with a single, and Matt Bender drove home the final Huskies run with the squad's fourth sacrifice fly of the contest.
Eagan delivered a single to plate one run in the ninth inning, but Scates escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam by inducing a double play off the bat of Kleman to end the game.
UW-Oshkosh stranded nine runners on base while the University of Southern Maine left eight.
The Titans, who concluded their seven-day trip to Florida with a 3-4 record, play a doubleheader against the University of Chicago (Ill.) on April 2 in Chicago.