Titans Conclude Alabama Trip With Defeats To Bulldogs, Panthers
UW-Oshkosh's lead in the second game of the day was short-lived as the nationally ranked Titans lost a pair of baseball contests Saturday (March 2) in Birmingham, Ala.
UW-Oshkosh (0-3) suffered a 15-2 setback to Adrian College (Mich.) before host Birmingham-Southern College defeated the Titans, 8-3. The Titans, ranked 21st in the NCAA Division III by D3baseball.com, collected 15 hits and drew six walks but stranded a total of 17 baserunners during the two contests.
In the first game of the day, Adrian College scored twice in the top of the first inning and extended its lead to 6-1 with a three-run fourth frame.
Adrian College (1-0), the 10-time defending Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion, outhit the Titans, 19-6, on the way to picking up its first win over UW-Oshkosh. The Titans defeated the Bulldogs by an 8-4 score in their only previous meeting March 3, 2017, in Birmingham.
Korey Mazur went 4-for-5 with a double, three runs scored and three runs batted in to lead the Bulldogs. Gunner Rainey added three hits, three runs scored and two RBIs for Adrian College.
Bulldogs starting pitcher Pierce Banks earned the win, allowing two runs in six innings. He walked four and struck out six.
Zack Radde had a pair of hits and one RBI for UW-Oshkosh. Hunter Staniske had the Titans' lone extra-base hit with a double in the bottom of the first inning.
Rainey provided Adrian College a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the top of the first inning before scoring on a wild pitch with two outs.
Radde cut UW-Oshkosh's deficit to 2-1 with a single that plated Staniske in the home half of the first inning, but the Bulldogs responded with an RBI single from Brady Wood for a 3-1 advantage in the third. The Bulldogs' three-run fourth inning featured an RBI single by Zack Zschering and a run-scoring double from Rainey.
Adrian College later added eight insurance runs over the final three innings.
UW-Oshkosh starting pitcher Chris Atwood suffered the loss after yielding six runs on seven hits in 3.2 innings. He walked two batters and struck out two.
In the Titans' final game of their two-day trip to the Cotton State, Birmingham-Southern College answered UW-Oshkosh's run in the top of the first inning with four runs in the home half of the frame and held a 7-1 lead entering the eighth.
Birmingham-Southern College (7-4), which handed the Titans a 4-0 loss Friday, collected 14 hits, including eight for extra bases, Saturday against UW-Oshkosh.
Tyler Wise was 4-for-5 with a double, a triple and three RBIs to pace the Panther offense. Brian Williams added three hits, including a pair of triples, and scored four times for Birmingham-Southern College.
Dylan Ott had three of the Titans' nine hits and stole three bases while Griffith Lukes added a pair of hits for UW-Oshkosh.
Panther starting pitcher John Michael Shirley allowed one unearned run across the first five innings. He gave up just three hits and struck out five without issuing a walk.
Alex Larson, making his first career start for the Titans, was charged with the loss after ceding seven runs on eight hits in 3.1 innings pitched.
UW-Oshkosh built its only advantage of the day as Ott singled to lead off the game, stole second base with one out and came around to score on a two-out infield throwing error.
Birmingham-Southern College's bottom of the first inning began with a double from Cole Steadman and a Williams single. Tyler Hamel laced a two-run double with one out before Preston Munns and A.J. Hunt produced RBI hits with two outs.
The Titans cut their deficit to 7-2 in the eighth inning on an RBI double from Mike Wojcik and pulled within 8-3 in the ninth frame on a run-scoring groundout off the bat of Benton Troehler.
UW-Oshkosh travels to Memphis, Tenn., for a three-game series at Rhodes College next weekend. The Titans and Lynx will play a doubleheader Friday (March 8) and a single game Saturday (March 9).