The Titans improved their record to 8-9 as they beat Ripon College in a dominating 13-1 victory on Wednesday, April 13. Pitcher Adam Rude got the win for UWO. He gave up just two hits and one run after pitching six innings. Pitcher Ryan Wilkening, who stepped in for the seventh inning, gave up no hits and no runs. Ripon got on the board first as third basemen Randy Finger scored a run in the first inning. Oshkosh responded with five hits and six runs in the second. From that point on, the Titans gave up no additional hits or runs, but hit twelve more and scored an additional seven. Centerfielder Johnny Eagan went 4-5 and added two points, while first baseman Andy Brahier went 3-5 and contributed one point. Rude and Wilkening combined for 11 strikeouts, and Titan batters struck out just twice. Head Coach Kevin Tomasiewicz said he is pleased with the team’s overall performance. “I think the team played very well,” Tomasiewicz said. “Anytime you can win three games out of four in a weekend, it’s a good weekend.” On April 10 the Titans swept Stout in both games, taking game one 13-7 and game two 13-3. In Sunday’s first game Stout scored first with a single from Josh Halling. Halling advanced to second, stole third base and came in to score the first run on a double by Noah Brown. However, the Titans struck back in the third inning from a single by Whitcomb that scored Noah Polcyn. UW-Stout answered with four unearned runs in the fourth. The Titans then took back the lead for good in the fourth inning after Tyler Kozlowski walked and Robbie Kleman and Alex Koch both singled to load the bases with one out. Kleman stole home, Taylor Grimm hit a two-run single and Polcyn followed with a single to bring in Grimm and tie the game at five. With two outs and Titans at second and third base, Eagan hit a two-run single to give UW Oshkosh a 7-5 lead. The Titans went on to score six more runs, one in the sixth inning, three in the seventh and two in the eighth. The Titans won by the ten-run rule after bringing in 13 runs through seven innings while UW-Stout brought in three in Sunday’s second game. “As a team we’re taking steps in the right direction,” Grimm said. “We’re learning how to win. It was a fun weekend.” On April 9, the Titans beat UW-Stout in the first game 8-1, but lost in the second game 0-4. In game one pitcher Peter Jewell had a career-high nine strikeouts. He allowed seven hits and one walk. Eagan, the Titans’ athlete of the week, went three for four in the first game on Saturday with two doubles, two runs, three RBI’s and one stolen base. The first three Titan batters reached base as Jack Paulson and Whitcomb walked ahead of Eagan’s run-scoring single. An RBI from Kleman brought in Whitcomb for a 2-0 Titan lead. In the fourth inning Eagan was walked with bases loaded and brought in a run to raise the titans lead to 3-0. In the sixth, Eagan doubled home Paulson and Kleman to bring the Titans score to 5-0. Run-scoring doubles from Andy Brahier and Kleman in the eighth inning brought the final score to 8-1. UW-Stout’s only score was from a solo homerun by Brown in the seventh inning. The second game went scoreless up to the eighth inning. Titans relief pitcher Max Keough allowed a two-run single to Hunter Dicus for a 3-0 Blue Devil lead. A single from Stout’s Nate Sorenson brought in a run to bring the score to 4-0. On April 7, the Titans dominated Concordia University [Wisconsin], 17-5, in a game where every starter had at least one run, one hit and one RBI. UWO sent nine batters to the plate in the first and third innings, and eight batters in the second, fourth and fifth. RBI singles by Brahier, Koch, Conner Funnell and Grimm lead the Titans to a four-run first inning. In the second inning Eagan had a two-run single, while Kozlowski had a RBI double and Funnell had an RBI single. Brahier hit the Titans’ first homerun of the year that brought in three runs in the third. In the fourth inning the Titans scored three more runs on five hits. By the fifth inning the Titans had a 17-1 lead. The Falcons scored four runs on two hits, three walks and two hit batters against three Titan pitchers in the sixth frame but it wasn’t enough to come back. The Titans won the game in the seventh inning due to the ten-run rule. In the third frame of Thursday’s game Titan’s pitcher Jesse Sustachek pitched a scoreless third frame. Sustachek said he is feeling good about the teams overall performance. “I’m feeling really good,” Sustachek said. “Offense definitely put up a bunch of runs.” Sam Mentkowski