Titans Conclude Alabama Trip With Win
Tyler Kozlowski had a pair of hits and drove in three runs, lifting the UW-Oshkosh baseball team to an 8-4 victory over first-time opponent Transylvania University (Ky.) on Sunday (March 5) in Birmingham, Ala.
UW-Oshkosh (2-1) tied the score at 1 in the bottom of the first inning before adding two runs in the second frame and taking a 7-2 lead with a four-run fourth inning.
The Titans collected a season-high 14 hits, including at least one from each of the nine players in the lineup.
UW-Oshkosh's Johnny Eagan, Taylor Grimm, Dylan Ott and Logan Reckert all added two hits while Jack Paulson went 1-for-1 with a double, three walks, and two runs. The Titans laced five doubles, including one each by Kozlowski, Noah Polcyn, Zack Radde and Reckert.
Jesse Sustachek earned the pitching victory by allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits while striking out five in 6.2 innings.
Titans relief pitcher Scott Gorsuch did not allow a hit and recorded three strikeouts over the final 2.1 innings.
Transylvania University (2-4) scored a run in the top of the first inning on a one-out single, but UW-Oshkosh answered in the home half of the frame as Paulson led off with a walk, advanced to second base on a bunt single by Kozlowski and reached third on a single from Eagan.
Paulson then scored the tying run on a wild pitch by Pioneers starting pitcher Bryce Crader, who walked Reckert before exiting without retiring a Titan batter.
Collin Johnson relieved Crader and escaped the bases-loaded, no-out jam by notching a pair of strikeouts and a flyout to end the threat.
Ott began the bottom of the second inning with a single off Johnson and stole second base ahead of Polcyn's run-scoring double. Polcyn came around to score on a throwing error by Pioneers second baseman Nick Nelson.
Sustachek retired eight consecutive Transylvania University batters before allowing a single to Connor Blevins to open the fourth inning. Blevins scored on an error at shortstop by Paulson that cut the Pioneer deficit to 3-2. Riley Wilbur followed with a single to load the bases with one out, but Sustachek got an infield pop-fly and a flyout to preserve the lead.
Kozlowski plated Ott and Paulson with a one-out double in the fourth inning, and Reckert and Sam Schwenn hit back-to-back run-scoring singles with two outs off Johnson to provide the Titans with a 7-2 advantage.
Radde delivered a groundout that plated Reckert in the home half of the sixth frame to extend the UW-Oshkosh lead to 8-2, and the Pioneers concluded the scoring with consecutive two-out, run-scoring hits by David McAnelly and Blevins in the seventh frame.
Transylvania University's Blevins went 3-for-5 with one double, two runs batted in, and one stolen base.
Crader (1-1) was charged with the loss on the mound for the Pioneers, yielding one run on two hits and two walks without retiring a batter.
UW-Oshkosh concluded its three-game trip to Alabama with 32 hits, nine stolen bases and a .302 batting average while the Titan pitching staff sports a 3.81 earned run average and 27 strikeouts in 26 innings pitched.
The Titans return to action against University of Massachusetts Boston on March 17 in Lake Myrtle, Fla.
Photo by Jennifer Zuberbier