Titans Place Six Players On All-WIAC First Team
First team selections Andy Brahier, Taylor Grimm, Alex Koch, Nick McLees, Logan Reckert and Colan Treml headline UW-Oshkosh's selections to the 2018 All-WIAC Baseball Team.
UW-Oshkosh (31-8), which qualified for the NCAA Division III Championship for the first time since 2008, had a league-high nine players on the All-WIAC Team, including honorable mention picks Dylan Ott, Zack Radde and Jesse Sustachek.
Brahier, a senior first baseman, earned his fourth all-conference honor. He was voted to the first team in 2015 and received honorable mention status in both 2016 and 2017.
Sustachek, a senior pitcher, picked up his third all-league accolade after also receiving honorable mention recognition in 2015 and 2017.
Koch, McLees, Ott and Treml were all named to the all-conference team for the second time. Treml, a junior pitcher, is a repeat selection on the first team. Koch, a junior outfielder, and McLees, a senior pitcher, were named to the honorable mention team last season while Ott, a junior third baseman, was an honorable mention choice in 2016.
Senior catcher Grimm, junior utility player Radde, and senior outfielder Reckert each picked up their first All-WIAC honors.
UW-Oshkosh's six first-team honorees are its most since seven Titans were named to the top team in 2004. The Titans' nine overall all-league picks are their most since garnering 10 selections in 1999.
WIAC champion UW-Whitewater had eight all-league players – all on the first team – as the nationally ranked Titans and Warhawks accounted for 14 of the 20 spots on the top team.
Brahier ranks among the WIAC's top eight players in nearly every statistical category, including second in batting average (.437), third in on-base (.485) and slugging (.681) percentages, sixth in doubles (12) and total bases (81), seventh in home runs (7) and eighth in hits (52). He has recorded at least one hit in 22 of his last 24 games, which include 16 multiple-hit performances since April 11. Brahier went 11-for-16 with three home runs and 10 runs batted in during a four-game series against UW-Stout (April 28-29) and collected nine hits and nine RBIs in four games against UW-Platteville (April 21-22).
Brahier, who earlier this season became the 11th Titan to reach 200 career hits, ranks 18th in WIAC history with 212 hits and 20th with 41 doubles.
Grimm paces the WIAC with 51 runs batted in while ranking third in the league with 45 runs, 17 doubles and seven home runs; fourth with a .600 slugging percentage; fifth with 93 total bases and 55 hits; and sixth with a .355 batting average.
Grimm, who ranks ninth in the country with seven sacrifice flies, has driven in multiple runs during 14 games this year, including a season-best six RBIs against Wisconsin Lutheran College on March 28. He had 35 RBIs in the Titans' first 17 games this year.
Koch is hitting .333 on the year while ranking second in the conference with five triples and third with a team-leading 96 total bases and seven home runs. He also lists fifth in the league with 55 hits and 40 runs batted in, and sixth with 39 runs.
Koch went 4-for-6 with a home run and seven RBIs in a game against UW-Platteville on April 22. He also hit a pair of homers and drove in five runs during a contest against UW-La Crosse on May 5.
McLees has an 8-2 record and one save on the year with a 2.72 earned run average and 56 strikeouts in 72.2 innings pitched. He leads the WIAC with a .208 opponent batting average and a 0.92 ratio of walks plus hits, divided by innings pitched. McLees also ranks second in the league in innings pitched, third wins and complete games (3), seventh in strikeouts and ninth in earned run average.
McLees notched a season-high 11 strikeouts in a victory over UW-Platteville on April 21 and struck out 10 during a complete-game win against Illinois Institute of Technology on May 11. He also picked up complete-game victories this season against UW-Stevens Point on April 26 and UW-Whitewater on April 11.
Reckert ranks fourth in the conference with a .415 batting average, fifth with a .463 on-base percentage and eighth with a .525 slugging percentage. He has amassed 49 hits, including seven doubles and two home runs, and driven in 26 runs.
Reckert, who is currently on a nine-game hitting streak, went 9-for-19 during a four-game series with UW-Platteville and 8-for-13 in three games against UW-La Crosse (May 4-5).
Treml owns a 9-0 record and a 2.28 earned run average with four complete games, one shutout and 70 strikeouts in 79 innings pitched across 11 starts while limiting opponents to a .215 batting average. He paces the WIAC in wins, innings pitched, complete games and pitching starts while ranking second in the league in shutouts and third in both strikeouts and opponent batting average.
Treml, who is tied for second in program history with four career shutouts, did not allow a run and struck out a career-high 12 during a complete-game win over Illinois Institute of Technology on May 11. Treml also allowed just one run in both of his back-to-back complete-game wins against UW-Whitewater on April 25 and UW-Stout on April 29.
Ott, who has been hit by a league-high 17 pitches this year, is batting .351 with 46 hits, 34 runs, 11 doubles, three home runs, 25 RBIs, 12 stolen bases, and .462 on-base and .519 slugging percentages. He ranks fourth in the conference in on-base percentage, seventh in batting average, eighth in stolen bases and ninth in both doubles and slugging percentage.
Ott has produced 15 multiple-hit games this year, including four-hit performances against UW-La Crosse on May 5 and UW-Platteville on April 22.
Radde is hitting .301 with 37 hits, 27 runs, nine doubles, three home runs, 18 runs batted in and eight stolen bases. Radde, who compiled a 12-game hitting streak during conference play, launched a pair of home runs in the four-game series with UW-Stout.
Sustachek has a 4-2 record and two complete games with a 3.65 earned runs average and 37 strikeouts in 49.1 innings pitched across nine starts. He earned complete-game victories and allowed just two runs against both UW-Stout on April 28 and UW-La Crosse on May 4 during a stretch of three consecutive wins in conference play.
Rounding out the All-WIAC First Team were UW-La Crosse's Nate Heili and Caleb Willems; UW-Platteville's Josh Moses; UW-Stevens Point's Ben Miller and Nathan Mulzer; UW-Stout's Jordan Wilson; and UW-Whitewater's Mike Aiello, Cal Aldridge, Daytona Bryden, Alex Doud, Austin Jones, Michael Kaska, Heath Renz and Nick Schrader.
UW-Whitewater's Bryden and Kaska were voted the WIAC's Position Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, respectively. UW-Whitewater's John Vodenlich was named WIAC Coach of the Year.
UW-Whitewater (31-6), the top-ranked team in the country, won the WIAC title with a 20-4 record – two games ahead of seventh-ranked UW-Oshkosh, which finished second at 18-6.
The Warhawks and Titans were followed in the WIAC standings by UW-Stevens Point (24-14) in third with a 15-9 record, UW-La Crosse (24-15) in fourth at 14-10, UW-Stout (10-27) in fifth at 7-17, Illinois Institute of Technology (15-25) in sixth at 6-18 and UW-Platteville in seventh at 4-20.
UW-Oshkosh and UW-Whitewater will represent the conference at the NCAA Division III Championship after earning at-large berths to the 58-team field. UW-Oshkosh is the third seed at the Duluth (Minn.) Regional while UW-Whitewater is the second seed at the Sauget (Ill.) Regional.