Titans Hold On To Defeat Red Hawks

The UW-Oshkosh baseball team scored four runs in the first inning and held on for a 5-3 victory over Ripon College on Wednesday (April 26) at Tiedemann Field.

UW-Oshkosh, which has won the last four meetings with the Red Hawks by a combined 40-7 score, improved its record to 18-13 while Ripon College fell to 8-22. The Titans also defeated the Red Hawks, 14-2, on April 11 in Ripon.

UW-Oshkosh designated hitter Zack Radde provided the eventual game-winning hit in the home half of the first inning with a two-out, three-run double that increased the Titans' advantage to 4-0.

UW-Oshkosh starting pitcher Lucas Gregory pitched around a pair of two-out singles in the top of the first inning before the Titans tallied four runs on three hits and two walks in the bottom of the frame.

Jack Paulson led off UW-Oshkosh's first inning with a double and came in to score on a single by Tyler Kozlowski.

Ripon College starting pitcher Drew Slade then walked Johnny Eagan and Sam Schwenn ahead of Radde, who laced his bases-clearing double to right-center field.

The Titans tacked on an insurance run in the third inning as back-to-back infield errors with two outs allowed Schwenn to score with an unearned run.

Gregory combined with UW-Oshkosh relief pitchers Matt Wiechmann, Carter Turnquist and Alex Larson to hold Ripon College scoreless through eight innings.

The Red Hawks scored three times in the ninth inning and brought the potential tying run to the plate with two outs, but UW-Oshkosh reliever Jack Tierney notched his first collegiate save by inducing a flyout to end the game.

Ripon College's Brice Swick hit a two-run double with one out in the ninth inning, and John Oswald scored Swick with a two-out single against UW-Oshkosh's Noah Polcyn before Tierney retired the only batter he faced to secure the win.

Ripon College stranded 11 baserunners while UW-Oshkosh left nine runners on base. The Red Hawks, who had runners aboard in all but the second inning, left the bases loaded during the sixth frame and stranded a pair of baserunners in the first.

Both teams recorded eight hits. Kozlowski paced UW-Oshkosh with a pair of singles while Ripon College's Oswald led all players with three hits. Riley Erickson added two for the Red Hawks.

UW-Oshkosh's Johnny Eagan had one hit and walked twice to extend his reached base streak to 31 games. Eagan leads the WIAC in hits (47), runs (32) and on-base percentage (.483).

Slade (0-3) was saddled with the loss for the Red Hawks after surrendering four runs on three hits and two walks in one inning of work.

The Titans travel to UW-Stout for doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday (April 28-29) in Menomonie.