Green Knights Post Rare Wins Over Titans
Tony Jandron got both pitching wins and smashed a walk-off home run to lead the St. Norbert College baseball team past UW-Oshkosh in a doubleheader on Saturday (April 3) in De Pere.
St. Norbert College used a four-run eighth inning and Jandron's home run in the ninth to take a 6-5 decision in the opener. Jandron then allowed just three hits and struck out 10 batters over eight innings to get the Green Knights a 9-2 win in the nightcap.
The victories were just the 11th and 12th for St. Norbert College against UW-Oshkosh. The Titans own a commanding 53-12-1 advantage in a series that dates back to 1958.
UW-Oshkosh (7-7) got off to a good start by scoring twice in the opening inning of the game one. Derek Hiroskey (Jr. • Kimberly) drove in the first run with a single, while Mickey Fadness (Sr. • Eau Claire) followed with a run-scoring groundout.
A pair of walks and Ryan Kehl's stolen base got St. Norbert College (8-6) going in the third inning. Matt Hannon then grounded out to drive in a run and slice the Green Knights' deficit in half.
Neither team could put together multiple hits in an inning until the eighth when the Titans tallied two hits and the Green Knights five.
UW-Oshkosh took advantage of its two hits in the top of the eighth inning and scored two runs. The Titans scored on an error following a Doug Beattie (Fr. • Escanaba, Mich.) double and a sacrifice fly by Nolan Fadness (Jr. • Eau Claire).
St. Norbert College bounced back with four runs in the bottom half of the eighth inning to take a 5-4 lead. Following a double by Jandron, the Green Knights scored runs on singles by Garrick Fisher, Kehl, Chris Hillesheim and Jordan Powers.
Two Titans went down in the ninth inning before they started their rally to extend the game. Troy Mrkvicka (So. • Greendale) got things started with a double. Brett Hubbard then pinch hit and reached on an error, which allowed UW-Oshkosh to tie the score at 5. Jandron, however, made the run a moot point when he stepped up in the bottom half of the frame and drilled his one-out, walk-off home run.
UW-Oshkosh had five hits, one by five different players. St. Norbert College totaled nine hits, including two each by Jandron, Kehl and Jared Yost.
Kyle Kannenberg (Sr. • Oshkosh) appeared on the mound twice and took the pitching loss after yielding two runs and four hits in 5.1 innings of service. Sean Grabig (Fr. • Howard) hurled three innings and allowed four runs and five hits.
Ryan Sullivan started on the hill for the Green Knights and settled for a no-decision after working 7.2 innings. Sullivan, who allowed four runs and four hits, retired 19 straight batters from the last hitter of the first inning through the end of the seventh. Following one inning of pitching by David Schneider, Jandron got one out in the ninth to gain the win.
In the nightcap, Jandron allowed runs to UW-Oshkosh in the first and ninth innings. The Titans scored on a groundout by Blake Berger (Jr. • Star Prairie) in the first inning and single by Tyler Kamps (Fr. • Appleton) in the ninth.
St. Norbert College tied the score in the bottom of the first inning when a runner was picked off first base. The Green Knights took a 4-1 lead with three runs in the second inning. St. Norbert College scored on the back end of a double steal, a double by Kehl and a bunt single by Powers.
Following a run-scoring single by Yost in the fifth inning, St. Norbert College put the game away with four runs on three hits in the seventh inning. The big hit in the seventh frame was a bases-loaded double by Ryan Way.
UW-Oshkosh managed just four hits, with two of them belonging to Mickey Fadness (Sr. • Eau Claire). The Green Knights banged out 12 hits, including four by Powers and two by Way.
Luke Westphal (So. • Clintonville) started for UW-Oshkosh and allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings of duty. Mrkvicka hurled the final three innings and yielded four runs and five hits.
Schneider retired three of the four batters he faced for St. Norbert College in the ninth inning.