Titans Sweep Quakers
The UW-Oshkosh baseball team swept a doubleheader against Earlham College behind a sterling pitching performance from Colan Treml in the opener and a comeback victory in the nightcap Saturday (March 23) in Richmond, Ind.
UW-Oshkosh (5-6) cruised to an 8-0 win the first contest before overcoming an early four-run deficit to claim to second game, 7-5.
Treml (3-1) nearly went the distance in the opener, allowing just four hits – all singles – and four walks with nine strikeouts in 8.2 innings. He exited one out shy of pitching his program record-tying fifth career shutout.
Treml surrendered a pair of hits in the second inning but settled in to face the minimum number of batters from the third through seventh innings. The lone Quaker baserunner during that stretch reached via a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Treml induced an inning-ending double play and pitched a perfect seventh frame.
Treml, who lowered his earned run average to 1.93 on the year, did not allow his third hit of the game until a two-out single in the eighth inning. After escaping a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning with a strikeout, Treml set down the first two Earlham College batters in the ninth before issuing a walk and surrendering a single to conclude his outing.
UW-Oshkosh supported Treml's pitching gem with single runs in the first, third, fifth and sixth innings. The Titans then tacked on four runs in the top of the ninth frame.
Alex Koch went 3-for-5 for the Titans while Jensen Hinton added two of the team's nine hits and drove in three runs. Dylan Ott launched his first home run of the season and scored three times.
The Titans provided Treml the only run he needed with Hinton's RBI single that scored Ott in the first inning.
Zack Radde gave UW-Oshkosh a 2-0 lead on a run-scoring groundout in the third frame, and Ott hit a solo home run with one out in the fifth inning to extend the Titans' lead to 3-0.
Eric Modaff delivered an RBI single in the sixth inning before UW-Oshkosh's four-run ninth frame that featured a two-run single from Hinton and a two-run double by Hunter Staniske.
Cameron McCabe went 2-for-3 to lead the Quakers.
Earlham College starting pitcher Walter Talcott (2-3) was charged with the loss, ceding four runs (two earned) on five hits in 5.2 innings. He walked three batters and struck out eight.
In the nightcap, Earlham College jumped out to a 4-0 lead as the Quakers scored all four runs with two outs in the second inning. Isaiah Shake drove in three with a bases-clearing triple, and Marc Gendreau followed with a single that scored Shake.
The Titans began their comeback with a three-run third inning that was highlighted by a sacrifice fly by Koch and back-to-back RBI singles from Hinton and Staniske. UW-Oshkosh then took a 5-4 lead it would not relinquish in the fifth frame as Hinton produced a run-scoring groundout before Koch scored the go-ahead run following an infield error with two outs.
UW-Oshkosh increased its advantage to 7-4 with Radde's RBI double in the seventh inning and Koch's sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Earlham College pulled within 7-5 in the home half of the ninth inning and had the tying run at the plate with one out, but Titans relief pitcher Will Michalski completed his third inning of work by inducing a pair of groundouts to end the game.
Michalski and Ryan Wilkening combined to allow just one run out of the UW-Oshkosh bullpen over the final 7.1 innings in relief of Jared Horton, who was making his first start as a Titan.
Wilkening (1-2) earned the win by holding the Quakers scoreless on five hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 4.1 innings.
Michalski picked up his first career save after limiting Earlham College to one run on three hits over the final three innings. He recorded one strikeout without issuing a walk.
Each of Wilkening's 13 outs and all but one of Michalski's nine outs were recorded on the infield. The lone exception was a flyout to Modaff, the Titans' right fielder, to end the seventh inning.
Modaff, Ott and Staniske each accounted for two of the Titans' 10 hits.
Earlham College's Danny Dopp went 4-for-5 while Shake added three of the Quakers' 13 hits.
Quakers starting pitcher Kyle Gorman (2-2) suffered the loss after allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits with seven strikeouts in five innings.
Earlham College allowed just three unearned runs on the day despite committing four errors in both games.
UW-Oshkosh and Earlham College conclude its three-game series with a single contest Sunday (March 24) in Richmond.
Photo courtesy of Dan Oetting