Titans Swept By Red Hawks In Home Finale

Ripon College produced 24 hits on the day en route to sweeping a pair of games over the UW-Oshkosh baseball team by scores of 5-0 in the opener and 12-1 in seven innings during the second contest Saturday (April 27) at Tiedemann Field.

Red Hawks starting pitcher Brice Swick and reliever Brody Marks combined to hold UW-Oshkosh scoreless on seven hits in the opener before Ripon College's Brian Brown allowed six hits during a complete-game effort during the second game.

Michael Barnes and Riley Erickson both accounted for five of the Red Hawks' hits Saturday while Nick Terrell added four. Nick Taranto led Ripon College (18-12) with four runs batted in on the day.

UW-Oshkosh's Alex Koch, Matt McNabb, Dylan Ott, Jonathan Selchow and Hunter Staniske each had a team-leading two hits Saturday. During the first game of the day, Ott became the most recent player to play all nine positions as he started the contest at catcher and ended at shortstop. Ott played at least one full inning at each position besides pitcher, where he recorded one out and walked one batter in his collegiate pitching debut during the ninth inning.

In Saturday's first game, Barnes hit a two-run homer in the top of the first inning before the Red Hawks added a run in the fourth frame and two more during the sixth.

Swick (5-2) earned the win by limiting the Titans to six hits and a walk with eight strikeouts across the first seven innings before giving way to Marks, who gave up one hit and stuck out one in the last two frames. Swick retired 10 consecutive batters between the third and sixth innings.

Barnes, Erickson, Terrell and Noah Herried all had two of the Red Hawks' 10 hits.

Koch and McNabb paced the Titans with two hits apiece.

UW-Oshkosh starting pitcher Ryan Wilkening (3-5) was charged with the loss, surrendering five runs (three earned) on nine hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out two.

In the second game, Ripon College broke the game open with six runs after two outs during the fourth inning.

Clinging to a 2-0 lead, the Red Hawks had two outs and the bases empty in the fourth frame until seven straight batters reached base. Erickson delivered a three-run triple in the inning before Taranto capped the rally with a two-run double. Erickson finished the game 3-for-5 with three runs batted in while Taranto had a pair of hits and four RBIs.

UW-Oshkosh scored its lone run of the day on Selchow's RBI single that cut the deficit to 8-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Selchow and Staniske both had a pair of hits for the Titans in the second game.

Brown improved his record to 4-2 this season for the Red Hawks after registering six strikeouts without issuing a walk.

Titans starting pitcher Will Michalski (1-3) suffered the loss, ceding seven runs (five earned) on six hits and three walks with one strikeout in 3.2 innings.

UW-Oshkosh (17-18) committed 10 errors Saturday, including a season-high six in the second game, that led to five unearned runs.

The Titans play a single game at Wisconsin Lutheran College on Tuesday (April 30).

Photo by Steve Frommell