Titans, Eagles Square Off In WIAC Championship Opener
UW-Oshkosh squares off against the best hitting team in the nation when the Titans open the WIAC Baseball Championship against nationally ranked UW-La Crosse on Friday (May 13) in La Crosse.
UW-Oshkosh (18-19-1), seeded fourth at the WIAC Championship, faces top-seeded UW-La Crosse (31-8) at 10 a.m. Friday in the first game of the four-team, double-elimination league tournament at Copeland Park.
The second game will see second-seeded UW-Whitewater (27-12) playing third-seeded UW-Stevens Point (21-19) at 1 p.m. Friday. The first-round winners will play at 7 p.m. Friday, preceded by a matchup of the opening-round losers at 4 p.m.
The WIAC Championship has featured four teams during 17 during its 19 editions since debuting in 1998. This year's collection of four qualifiers – the only programs to secure WIAC tournament championships – have vied for 12 of those 17 titles.
Last season, UW-Stevens Point won the league tournament over UW-Whitewater while UW-Oshkosh finished in third place and UW-La Crosse fourth.
UW-Oshkosh, seeking its first WIAC tournament title since winning the inaugural event in 1998, enters the postseason with a .300 batting average and a 4.42 earned run average.
The Titans are led offensively by Robbie Kleman and Johnny Eagan, and on the mound by Colan Treml, Ben Messenger and Peter Jewell.
Kleman paces the team with a .366 batting average, six triples, six home runs, 40 runs batted in, 89 total bases, and .448 on-base and .627 slugging percentages while Eagan, batting .361 this year, is the squad leader with 34 runs, 53 hits and 16 doubles.
Kleman and Eagan rank ninth and 10th in the WIAC, respectively, in batting average. Kleman's triples total lists second in the league, his RBI total ranks second, and his home runs and total bases are third-best. Eagan's 53 hits and runs total both list seventh in the WIAC while his 78 total bases rank eighth and his 31 RBIs 10th.
Treml sports a 3-5 record with a team-leading 3.51 earned run average and 45 strikeouts in 51.1 innings pitched across 11 appearances, including six starts. Messenger has a 3-3 record with a 3.81 ERA and a team-best 47 strikeouts in 52 innings pitched in nine games while Jewell is 2-3 with a 3.88 ERA and 35 strikeouts in a team-high 55.2 innings spanning eight starts.
Messenger's and Treml's strikeout totals list fourth and sixth in the league, respectively.
UW-La Crosse, ranked fourth in the NCAA Division III by D3baseball.com, leads the country with a .363 batting average. The Eagles, who fell in last year's national title game, swept this season's four-game series with UW-Oshkosh by a combined score of 42-19 on April 16-17 in La Crosse.
The Eagles boast five of the conference's top eight hitters, including 2014 WIAC Player of the Year Taylor Kohlwey. Kohlwey leads the league with a .493 batting average, 75 hits, 60 runs, 17 doubles, seven triples, 124 total bases, and .560 on-base and .816 slugging percentages.
UW-La Crosse's Justin Anderson paces the WIAC with eight homers and 65 RBIs while ranking second in the league with a .447 batting average. The Eagles' Alex Cordova lists fourth in the WIAC in batting average at .396, Carter Hoffman is sixth at .383 and Nate Heili is eighth at .367.
Caleb Boushley headlines the UW-La Crosse pitching staff. He leads the WIAC with a 7-0 record, a 1.49 ERA and 66.2 innings pitched while ranking second with 64 strikeouts and a .221 opponent's batting average.
UW-Whitewater, ranked 15th in the nation, lists among the division leaders with a 2.80 ERA. The Warhawks' .963 fielding percentage also leads the conference while their .305 batting average ranks second.
Five of the WIAC's top eight leaders in earned run average hail from UW-Whitewater. Warhawk Curtis Morgan ranks second with a 2.03 ERA, Ankur Shah is fourth at 2.17, Mike Nompleggi fifth at 2.19, Heath Renz sixth at 2.43 and Lake Bachar eighth at 2.97. Bachar, Morgan, Renz and Shah each have a team-leading five wins while Bachar paces the conference with 70 strikeouts.
Cal Aldridge and Steve Chamberlain lead the Warhawks offensively. Aldridge is third in the conference with a .407 batting average, fourth with 57 hits and sixth with five home runs. Chamberlain is second on the team and seventh in the league with a .380 batting average.
UW-Stevens Point ranks second in the conference with a 3.75 ERA while the Pointer offense is powered by Cody Hanke, the reigning conference player of the year, whose seven home runs are second-most in the league and 11 stolen bases rank sixth.
The Pointers' pitching staff is headed by Cole Erickson, who owns a 2-2 record and lists third in the conference with a 2.17 ERA to go along with 36 strikeouts in 54 innings pitched.
UW-Stevens Point owns 11 WIAC Championship crowns while UW-Whitewater has won four league tournaments and UW-La Crosse two.