Two Former Titans Receive All-Decade Honors

Former UW-Oshkosh standouts Jeremy Jirschele and Vince Mancuso were among 16 players named to D3baseball.com's NCAA Division III All-Decade Team for the 2000's.

Jirschele, a second baseman, started all 169 games that he played in for UW-Oshkosh from 2002-05. He received NCAA Division III All-America first team honors in 2004 and 2005 after helping the Titans to a 64-22 record. In 2003, he teamed with Mancuso to lead UW-Oshkosh to a 37-8 record and a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Division III World Series.

Jirschele compiled a .383 career batting average with 15 home runs, 53 doubles, eight triples, 161 runs batted in and 177 runs scored. He also added a .959 fielding percentage on defense.

Jirschele was named the WIAC Position Player of the Year in both 2004 and 2005. In 2004, he hit .431 with six home runs, 20 doubles and 59 runs batted in. The following season, Jirschele batted .438 with five home runs, 19 doubles and 49 runs batted in. He marked a fielding percentage of .980 in 2004 and .981 during 2005.

Jirschele played three seasons of minor league baseball after being selected in the 30th round of Major League Baseball's 2005 Amateur Draft by the Kansas City Royals.

Mancuso, an outfielder, started 144 of the 151 contests that he played in for the Titans from 1999-2003. The three-time All-WIAC selection was named the NCAA Division III Player of the Year in 2003.

Mancuso tallied a .377 career batting average with 36 home runs, 33 doubles, seven triples, 171 runs batted in and 174 runs scored. He walked 100 times and was hit by a pitch on 52 other occasions.

Mancuso's finest season came in 2003 when he hit .465 with 17 home runs, 13 doubles, four triples, 70 runs battes in and 67 runs scored. That performance also earned Mancuso the WIAC Position Player of the Year award.

The All-Decade First Team included catcher Jay Coakley of Marietta College (Ohio) and infielders Drew Caravella of Ohio Wesleyan University, Jake Frank of The College of Wooster (Ohio) and Ian Hauze of DeSales University (Pa.).

Along with Mancuso, the outfielders were Tony Konicek of Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) and Eric Swedberg of Worcester State University (Mass.).

Two utility players, Kurt Yacko of Chapman University (Calif.) and Shawn Gilblair of Eastern Connecticut State University were selected, along with designated hitter Jose Cortez of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (Calif.).

The squad featured pitchers Jeremiah Bayer of Trinity College (Conn.), Matt DeSalvo of Marietta College, Ryan DiPietro of Eastern Connecticut State University, Devin Drag of Chapman University and Josh Schwartz of Rowan University (N.J.).

Head Coach Dennis Denning of the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) was also named to the team for his two national championships and .756 winning percentage during the decade.