The Titans men’s baseball team fell to 5-10 after losing three of four in back-to-back doubleheaders against Eau Claire (9-5) at Tiedemann Field this past weekend.
Oshkosh lost a doubleheader against Eau Claire by a score of 11-4 and 6-3, extending their losing streak to five games on March 28 at Tiedemann Field.
In the first game of the day, the Titans gave up a three-run homer and a run-scoring double in the first two frames, falling to a 4-0 deficit. In the bottom of the second, UWO’s Jack McKellips reached on an error that scored Aaron Davis and Danny Connelly. Both teams traded runs in the third inning when Oshkosh allowed a sac fly, while Jack McNamara singled in Logan Schill in the bottom of the frame. However, the Titans gave up six runs in the next two innings, which put the game out of reach.
Josh Jansen took the loss, tossing five innings, allowing eight runs, seven earned, on eleven hits, with five strikeouts and three walks. Nick Gilroy came in after Jansen, allowing three earned runs in one inning of work. Kael Johns, Benje Hencke, and Joe Richardson went a combined three scoreless innings. The defense didn’t have a clean game, committing three errors from Trevor Morris, McNamara, and Davis in critical spots.
The Titans’ offense had six hits, three walks, and seven strikeouts. David Wick, McNamara, Schill, Brenden Max, Gavin Persson, and McKellips all collected a hit; nobody had a multi-hit game.
In the night game, Oshkosh jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Persson singled in Davis in the second inning. Everything unraveled quickly in the third inning when the Blugolds got a single, an infield single, and then Baris Brua had a throwing error on a sac bunt to load the bases with no outs. A sac fly tied the game, back-to-back walks made it 2-1, followed by a double that cleared the bases, before Brua got two punch-outs to end the frame. UWO’s McKellips scored on a groundout, and Schill hit a solo homer in the sixth to bring the Titans within reach, before going scoreless in the last three innings.
Brua took the loss, giving seven innings of work, allowing six runs on seven hits, three walks, with ten strikeouts. Ethan Wicks had a strikeout in his one inning, while Ryan Richter struck out the side in the ninth.
Schill and McKellips both had multiple hits, collecting four of Oshkosh’s seven hits in the game. Davis, Brenden, and Persson each had a hit of their own.
On the second day of the doubleheader, Oshkosh dominated Eau Claire by mercy ruling them 11-1, then blew a late lead in the ninth of the second game, resulting in a 9-6 loss.
Oshkosh scored five runs in the first two innings, and at least one run through the first five, ending the day with eleven total hits and five free passes. In the first inning, the Titans played small ball, scoring two via sac bunts from McNamara and Davis that scored Braydon Skenandore and Shill. Morris’s solo homer in the third made it six to nothing. Connelly doubled in McNamara and Skenandore doubled in McKellips in the fourth and fifth innings to add on. McNamara and Davis had run-scoring singles in the eighth to make it a ten-run game, therefore putting the game to rest. Skenandore led the way with three knocks, while McNamara, Connelly, Davis, and Morris all had two.
Connor Walters earned his second win of the year, going six and a third innings, allowing one run, unearned, allowing six hits, striking out four, and walking five. Colton Kachinsky came in after Walters and dominated, striking out all four batters he faced.
In the afternoon game, UWO fell into a three-nothing hole in the first, but crawled back in the fourth to tie the game at three. Both teams traded a run in the sixth before the Blugolds took a one-run lead in the seventh. Oshkosh responded with two runs in the eighth to take their first lead of the game, which was short-lived because the bullpen allowed four runs in the ninth, which would end up being the final score.
Oshkosh only had six hits, but took advantage of five errors that Eau Claire made. UWO’s Davis had a big game, hitting a solo home run in the second and producing a run-scoring single later in the game, having two hits. Schill was the only other player with two hits on the day.
Brett Gaynor took the pillar, throwing four innings of three-run, two-strikeout ball. Kachinsky relieved him, going two and one-third innings, allowing two hits and one run, one of which was unearned. Richter went one and two-thirds innings, allowing one run, while striking out two and walking one. Ben Buehring took the loss, giving up four runs, one earned, in two-thirds of an inning, after costly errors came back to haunt Oshkosh, before Wick got the final out.
The Titans will be back in action against UW-Stevens Point, playing a four-game set starting April 3 at noon at Tiedemann Field.
