The UW Oshkosh baseball team won two of three games versus Millikin University (Illinois) and Benedictine University (Illinois) on March 16 and 17.
The Titans’ first game of the weekend came against Millikin. The Big Blue (7-5) came into their matchup versus the Titans coming off a 7-4 win against Concordia University (Wisconsin) the day prior. Connor Brinkman made his fourth start of the year for UWO.
The game started out slow for both sides. Heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, Brinkman pitched three scoreless innings and Millikin pitcher Drew Detmers just finished his fourth scoreless inning.
With one out in the fourth inning, Millikin second baseman Tommy Shaw hit a solo home run to finally put a team on the board, giving Millikin a 1-0 lead. Brinkman would respond quickly by striking out the next batter and forcing a groundout to close out the inning.
The Titans offense came out looking for vengeance in the top of the fifth inning and they were able to capitalize. Jake Surane would hit a lead-off single for the Titans, but would eventually get caught stealing third base for the first out of the inning. Jack McNamara walked in his at-bat and advanced to second base to put a runner in scoring position for the Titans. Despite a strikeout by Zach Taylor, he was able to advance to first on a dropped third strike to avoid the second out of the inning.
Mason Kirchberg followed with a hit-by-pitch, loading the bases for the Titans. Nick Shiu hit a single to center field that moved everyone station to station, scoring McNamara from third and knotting the game at 1-1. Carter Stebane hit a two-RBI single in the next at-bat giving the Titans a 3-1 lead.
Two at-bats later, Owen Housinger hit a single that brought home Shiu. Braydon Skenandore scored on an error by Millikin pitcher Drew Sutton to cap off a five-run inning by the Titans, which gave them a 5-1 lead.
UWO maintained the 5-1 lead for the rest of the contest. Connor Brinkman allowed only three hits in his last five innings of work, earning himself a complete game victory. Overall for the contest, Brinkman allowed one run on seven hits while throwing 11 strikeouts and only one walk.
The Titans next game came later in the day versus Benedictine. The Eagles (9-0) entered the contest with an undefeated record while being ranked 19th in the country. Benedictine had also been dominant heading into the contest, outsourcing their opponents 43-12 in their past four games.
LJ Waco made his third start of the season for the Titans after earning a no-decision in his previous start versus Mitchell College (Connecticut).
UWO found the board first with an RBI single by Taylor in the top of the first inning, scoring Surane from second base. Benedictine responded relatively quickly by knotting the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning off an RBI single with two outs in the inning.
The Titans responded in the top of the third inning with two runs of their own to regain the lead. Taylor hit his second RBI single of the day to score Surane from third base and Kirchberg followed with a sacrifice fly to score McNamara from third.
Logan Schill added to the Titans lead in the top of the fourth inning with an RBI single that brought home Stebane from third. Surane made the Titans lead even more commanding in the top of the sixth inning when he hit a two-RBI triple to right field that brought home both Housinger and Skenandore, making the Titans lead grow to 6-1.
However, Benedictine did not back down as they responded with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Benedictine would earn walks in three of the first four at-bats of the inning and follow with a two-RBI single and an RBI single to cut the Titans lead to 6-4 entering the seventh inning. Benedictine would cut the lead once again in the seventh inning with an additional run, cutting the lead to 6-5.
The Titans found insurance runs in both the eighth and ninth innings. An error by the Benedictine shortstop in the eighth would score Stebane from second base and Taylor hit a double to center field that scored Surane from second base for his third RBI of the game, extending the Titans lead to 8-5.
Josh Jansen would stay in the game on the mound for the Titans in the ninth where he would give up one run but secure the Titans an 8-6 victory, handing Benedictine their first loss of the season.
Jansen earned his second save of the season pitching 3.2 innings allowing two runs on two hits while throwing four strikeouts and four walks. Waco earned the victory in the contest, moving his record to 2-0 on the season allowing four runs on five hits while throwing eight strikeouts and three walks.
Benedictine would get another crack at UWO the following day, this time with Aidan Trusky taking the mound for his second start of the season for the Titans.
Benedictine would jump on Trusky in the first inning with the bases loaded and one out DeShawnte Carraway hit a two-RBI single to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead. Trusky struck out the next two batters to close out the first, avoiding any further damage.
The Titans found the board in the bottom of the third inning on a Kirchberg walk with the bases loaded that scored Danny Connelly from third.
The game remained quiet until the sixth inning when Benedictine lead-off hitter Ryan Doubek hit a RBI single to extend the Eagles lead to 3-1.
UWO had one final shot in the bottom of the ninth inning with Shiu and Stebane on third and second base with one out. Connelly hit an RBI single that scored Shiu and advanced Stebane to third base to cut the lead to 3-2.
However, Housinger stepped to the plate in the next at-bat and grounded into a double play, causing the Titans’ comeback effort to fall short, ending the game in a 3-2 defeat.
Trusky received the loss on the mound allowing two runs on four hits while tossing four strikeouts with two walks in four innings of work. Brett Gaynor came in for five innings of relief allowing one run on eight hits while throwing six strikeouts and only one walk.
The Titans returned to play on March 20 for a matchup against Milwaukee School of Engineering; visit the UWO athletics website for results. The Titans will also have a doubleheader in Kenosha against Carthage College on March 23 at 1 and 4 p.m.
