Titans Fall Twice To The Warhawks
UW-Whitewater's Cal Aldridge, Nick Santoro and Connor Schneider all hit home runs as the Warhawks swept a doubleheader over the UW-Oshkosh baseball team Saturday (April 6) in Whitewater.
UW-Whitewater (9-5, 2-0 WIAC) won by scores of 5-4 in the first game and 12-1 in eight innings during the second contest. The Warhawks did not trail after scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning of the opener and two runs in the home half of the first frame during the nightcap.
UW-Oshkosh (11-8, 4-2 WIAC), which had its nine-game winning streak snapped, falls into a tie for second in the league standings.
The Warhawks outhit the Titans, 24-12, on the day, including 15-6 in the second game.
Santoro went a combined 5-for-8 at the plate for UW-Whitewater with a double and a home run.
The first game of the day featured a pitching matchup of UW-Whitewater's Michael Kaska, the reigning WIAC Pitcher of the Year, and UW-Oshkosh's Colan Treml, a two-time all-conference first team selection.
After Kaska faced three batters and got an inning-ending double play in the top of the first inning, Santoro led off home half of the first frame during the battle of preseason All-American pitchers with a home run to left field off of Treml. Mike Aiello later gave UW-Whitewater a 2-0 lead with a two-out single that scored Aldridge.
Kaska did not allow a hit until Dylan Ott led off the top of the fourth inning with a single to center field. However, Ott was caught stealing for the first out, and Kaska retired the next three Titan batters to preserve the 2-0 lead.
UW-Oshkosh broke up Kaska's bid for a shutout in the fifth inning as Hunter Staniske tripled to open the frame and came in to score on a two-out wild pitch by Kaska.
UW-Whitewater answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to increase its lead to 4-1. Matt Korman reached on an error to lead off the inning, Lucas Price was hit by a pitch and Santoro delivered a double to right field to plate Korman with no outs. Schrader followed with a sacrifice fly, but Treml limited the damage by recording a strikeout and a flyout to end the inning.
Kaska held UW-Oshkosh to two hits through six innings until running into trouble in the seventh frame. Alex Koch singled and Jensen Hinton drew a walk to begin the Titan seventh inning. Staniske then hit a single down the left-field line to score Koch and pull UW-Oshkosh within 4-2. A double play on a lineout resulted in Staniske at first base with two outs for Jonathan Selchow, who hit a game-tying, two-run homer to left field. The home run was Selchow's second of the season and third of his career.
Treml pitched around a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning before the Titans stranded a pair of baserunners against Warhawks relief pitcher Connor Spear in the top of the eighth frame.
UW-Whitewater's Ben Wilkins drew a leadoff walk in the home half of the eighth inning and stole second base with one out. Treml induced a groundout to shortstop for the second out and issued an intentional walk to Santoro ahead of Schrader, who singled to left field to score Wilkins with the eventual game-winning run.
The Titans had the tying run at first base with two outs in the top of the ninth inning following a two-out walk by Selchow, but Spear got a lineout to end the contest.
Santoro went 3-for-3 with a double, home run and a walk to pace the Warhawks.
Spear (2-0) picked up the win in relief, holding the Titans scoreless on one hit and one walk over the final two innings.
Treml (4-2) suffered the complete-game loss for the Titans. He surrendered five runs (four earned) on nine hits while striking out four and walking five. Treml, who recorded his 14th complete game, is now UW-Oshkosh's all-time leader with 265.2 career innings pitched, surpassing Jordan Timm's previous program high of 264.1 established from 2001-04.
Koch and Staniske had two of UW-Oshkosh's six hits.
Kaska did not factor in the decision after yielding four runs on five hits in seven innings. He walked one and struck out five.
In the nightcap two-time defending WIAC champion UW-Whitewater built a 6-0 lead after seven innings and ended the game via the 10-run rule on a three-run homer by Schneider with one out in the eighth frame.
Aldridge, Korman, Santoro, Schrader and Alex Doud each contributed two of the Warhawks' 15 hits. Aldridge hit a double and a home run. Doud and Schneider drove in three runs apiece.
UW-Whitewater's three-run first inning featured an RBI double by Aldridge and a two-run single from Doud. Aldridge later hit a solo home run in the seventh inning that increased the Warhawk lead to 6-0.
Koch drove in the UW-Oshkosh run with a double that scored Ott in the eighth frame. Ott had a double among his two hits for the Titans during the nightcap.
Matt O'Sullivan (2-2) earned the win for UW-Whitewater after pitching seven scoreless innings, limiting the Titans to three hits and two walks with nine strikeouts.
Titans starting pitcher Chris Atwood (2-3) suffered the loss, ceding seven runs on 11 hits in seven innings. Atwood, who tossed the program's 10th no-hitter with 13 strikeouts during his previous start last Sunday (March 31) against Finlandia University (Mich.) in Oshkosh, walked one and struck out one against the Warhawks.
UW-Oshkosh remains in Whitewater to conclude the four-game series with a doubleheader Sunday (April 7).
Photo by Michael McLoone, UW-Whitewater