Eight Titans Earn All-WIAC Honors

MADISON, Wis.- When the WIAC announced the 2023 All-WIAC baseball awards on Wednesday (May 17), eight members of UW-Oshkosh's team were on the list. Four were named to the First Team, three were on the Honorable Mention Team and one represented UWO on the All-Sportsmanship Team.

Seniors Matt Scherrman and LJ Waco, junior Jake Surane and sophomore Connor Brinkman all made appearances on the First Team and Scherrman, Surane and Brinkman all made their second.

Scherrman was previously named to the 2021 Honorable Mention Team and the 2022 First Team. This season, he led the conference with five sacrifice flies and was second in hits (67), RBI (54) and doubles (17). The 2022 ABCA All-Region IX member is a four-year starter for the Titans. He also led the team with a .427 batting average and .720 slugging percentage. His 5-5 batting performance against UW-Eau Claire on April 8 with 3 RBI was a career-best.

Surane earned his second All-WIAC First Team nod, leading the WIAC with 20 doubles and 20 stolen bases on 24 attempts. His 20 doubles ties UWO's season record. The 2022 ABCA All-Region IX member also earned his second All-WIAC First Team nod in 2023. A 3-year starter, he also led the team with 175 at bats and 48 runs scored. He stole a career-best 4 bases at North Park on February 26 and went 4-6 with 2 doubles, 4 RBI and a run scored against UW-Eau Claire on April 7.

The 2022 Kwik Trip Newcomer of the Year, Brinkman was also named to his second All-WIAC First Team. The second year starting pitcher led the conference with 73.2 innings pitched, 22 looking strikeouts and eight wins while sitting third with 57 total strikeouts. He pitched two complete games including a shutout performance against UW-Platteville on April 22 with a season-high 7 strikeouts. He set his career-high in looking strikeouts with 5 at UW-Stout on April 14.

LJ Waco earned his first All-WIAC honor on Wednesday. He made the team by striking out a league-leading 76 batters with a third-place earned run average of 2.21, a metric he led the WIAC in for much of the season. He was also in the top-three in wins (six), home runs allowed (three), walks (13) and runs allowed (19). On March 11, he struck out a career-best 13 batters in a neutral site win over DePauw.

UWO's three players on the Honorable Mention Team were Connor Giusti, Mason Kirchberg and Nicholas Shiu. Jake Andersen represented UW-Oshkosh on the eight-man All-Sportsmanship Team.

Winners of the major awards were Adam Cootway of UW-Whitewater (Kwik Trip Position Player of the Year), Isaiah Katz of UW-La Crosse (Kwik Trip Pitcher of the Year), Tyler Schmitt of UW-La Crosse (Kwik Trip Newcomer of the Year), Chris Schwarz of UW-La Crosse (Kwik Trip Coach of the Year) and Nick Paget of UW-Whitewater (Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete).

The WIAC's release can be found here.