Titans Travel South To Open Baseball Season

UW-Oshkosh will be challenged by a number of quality teams when it starts the 2014 baseball campaign on March 21-29 with 10 games in Illinois and Florida.

The Titans will play a contest in Chicago on Friday and Saturday. UW-Oshkosh then buses to Florida for eight more games. Seven of the games will be against winning teams from last season.

The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.), which reached the 2013 NCAA Tournament, is UW-Oshkosh's first opponent on Friday. The Saints are 7-4 this season after posting a 29-11 record last year.

On Saturday, the Titans will play at North Park University (Ill.). New UW-Oshkosh head coach Kevin Tomasiewicz was an assistant at North Park from 2012-13.

The Titans have a doubleheader against St. Olaf College (Minn.) on March 24 in Auburndale, Fla. Last season, the Oles went 20-15 to place fifth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The trip's premier opponent will be ninth-ranked University of St. Thomas (Minn.) on March 25. The Tommies won the 2013 MIAC title and finished with a 34-7 record. This year, St. Thomas has opened with a 6-2 mark.

UW-Oshkosh will then battle Union College (N.Y.), which compiled a 26-13 record a year ago. On March 28, the Titans play a doubleheader with the University of Chicago (Ill.), the owner of a 26-14 record last season.

UW-Oshkosh returns 12 lettermen and six starters from last year's team that went 23-14. All-American Bobby Kachel is back after hitting .386 with 11 home runs and 55 RBI. The pitching staff will be led by 2013 All-WIAC selection Joe Pavlovich and transfer Ben Messenger from UW-Stevens Point.

In the WIAC preseason poll, the Titans were picked to finish fourth. The rankings had UW-Stevens Point in first, UW-Whitewater second and UW-La Crosse third.

The Titans are scheduled to open conference play against the Pointers on April 1.

By Jon Feyen