Titans Shut Out Nationally Ranked Warhawks To Split Doubleheader
Connor Brinkman pitched a seven-hit shutout and Jake Andersen drove in a career-high four runs during the nightcap as the UW-Oshkosh baseball team split a pair of Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games at nationally ranked UW-Whitewater on Monday (April 4).
UW-Whitewater (12-5, 4-2 WIAC), ranked 10th in the NCAA Division III by D3baseball.com, came back for an 8-6 win in Monday's opener before UW-Oshkosh (7-9, 2-4) blanked the Warhawks, 9-0, during the nightcap. The Titans, who snapped a 10-game losing streak against UW-Whitewater, had not shut out the Warhawks since an 11-0, seven-inning victory April 15, 2009, in Oshkosh.
UW-Oshkosh's most recent prior nine-inning shutout win over UW-Whitewater was an 8-0 decision April 29, 1995, in Whitewater.
In Monday's second contest, Andersen provided Brinkman all the support he needed with a two-out, two-run double in the top of the fourth inning. The Titans later tacked on one run in the fifth frame, two runs during the seventh, three more in the eighth, and one in the ninth.
Brinkman retired the last 16 batters he faced after pitching around a pair of hits in each the first, second and fourth innings, and stranding the bases loaded during the third frame.
Brinkman (3-1), making his fourth collegiate start, allowed just seven hits and two walks while striking out seven. Brinkman's first career shutout lowered his season earned run average to 0.97.
After Eric Modaff scored on a wild pitch to extend the Titans lead to 3-0 in the fifth inning, Zach Taylor launched a two-run homer during the seventh frame, and run-scoring singles in the eighth from Andersen, Modaff and Mickey McDowell increased the UW-Oshkosh cushion to 8-0. Andersen, whose previous career high was two runs batted in, collected his fourth RBI of the nightcap on a sacrifice fly during the ninth inning.
Modaff went 3-for-4 and scored twice for UW-Oshkosh, which also received two hits each from Andersen, McDowell and Taylor. Taylor's home run was his team-leading third of the year.
Jacob DeMeyer and Ryan Norton had two hits apiece for the Warhawks.
UW-Whitewater starting pitcher Hayden Fox (1-1) was charged with the loss, yielding two runs on three hits and four walks with a pair of strikeouts in 3.2 innings.
The Warhawks, who went on to deploy five total pitchers and cede 12 hits during the nightcap, entered the day ranked second in the division with a 2.74 earned run average, fourth with 7.42 hits allowed per nine innings and fifth with a 1.20 ratio of walks and hits per inning pitched.
UW-Oshkosh headed into the day fourth in the country with a 1.19 WHIP ratio.
During the first game, UW-Oshkosh was cruising along with a 4-0 lead through four innings until UW-Whitewater erupted for five runs in the home half of the fifth frame.
The Titans tied the score at 6 on run-scoring hits from Taylor and Mason Kirchberg in the seventh inning, but the Warhawks answered with two runs in their half of the seventh to reclaim the lead for good. Nick Paget's triple with no outs in the seventh inning put UW-Whitewater back on top at 7-6.
Jackson Broom hit a two-run homer in the first inning for the Titans. Matt Scherrman later blasted a solo home run to up UW-Oshkosh's lead to 4-0 in the fourth inning. The home runs were Broom's first and Scherrman's second of the season.
Taylor accounted for three of UW-Oshkosh's 10 hits while Broom and Modaff added two apiece.
Bennett Frazer went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the Warhawks.
UW-Whitewater relief pitcher Cade Berendt (4-0) picked up the win, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings on just two hits with five strikeouts.
Aaron Huibregtse (0-1) was charged with the loss after yielding two runs on two hits and recording one out in the seventh inning. Matt Sorrells then pitched two scoreless innings and collected three strikeouts to finish the game in relief of Huibregtse.
UW-Oshkosh conducts its home opening series Saturday and Sunday (April 9-10) with WIAC doubleheaders against UW-Stout at Tiedemann Field.
Photo by Jennifer Zuberbier