Titans Drop Two In Platteville
PLATTEVILLE, Wis.- The UW-Oshkosh baseball team fell to UW-Platteville, 14-4 and 6-5 on Sunday (May 5).
The Titans fell to 20-21, 12-12 WIAC while the Pioneers climbed to 16-21, 11-13 WIAC.
Game one of the day was scoreless until Zach Taylor (Sr. • Long Grove, Ill.) sent Jake Surane (Sr. • Lincolnshire, Ill.) across the plate on a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth inning. Danny Connelly (Fr. • Mundelein, Ill.) added to Oshkosh's lead later in the inning with a line out that scored Nick Shiu (Jr. • Gurnee, Ill.).
The Titans added two more runs to make the score 4-0 in the fifth inning. Braydon Skenandore (So. • De Pere) grounded out and sent Carter Stebane (Jr. • Brillion) home, followed by a solo home run to left field by Surane.
The Pioneers got on the board in the fifth inning when they scored on an error. Platteville added a run on a double in the sixth before scoring another eight runs in the seventh to make the score 11-4.
Taylor singled to right field and advanced to second when Mason Kirchberg (Jr. • DeForest) walked in the top of the eighth inning, but both were stranded as the next two Titan batters got out.
Platteville ended the game in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three runs on an RBI single and two-RBI double.
Brett Gaynor (Fr. • Long Grove, Ill.) was the Titans' starting pitcher in the third game of the series. He pitched 4.0 innings and struck out seven batters while allowing a run on six hits. Aaron Huibregtse (Jr. • Oostburg) was assigned the loss (1-1) in 2.1 innings of work. He allowed five runs on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
In game two, Aidan Trusky (So. • Antioch, Ill.) was the starting pitcher for UW-Oshkosh. He threw 4.0 innings, allowing zero runs on four hits and two walks with a strikeout.
Oshkosh struck first as Kirchberg singled to center field and advanced to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a Stebane sacrifice fly to right.
Another Titan run came in the third inning. Taylor hit a sacrifice fly to right field to send Surane home, who walked, stole second and reached third on a throwing error by the catcher.
The Titans increased their edge to 5-0 in the fifth inning on a Riley Pfeiffer (So. • Lockport, Ill.) walk, a Taylor wild pitch and a Jack McNamara (So. • La Grange, Ill.) walk.
Platteville registered a run in the bottom of the fifth, sacrifice flying to right field. The Pioneers then scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh on two RBI singles, a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch to tie the game up at 5-5. They took the lead in the eighth inning with another RBI single.
The Titans earned the No. 4 seed in the WIAC Tournament and will face No. 1 UW-Whitewater on Prucha Field at Jim Miller Stadium at noon on Thursday (May 9).