The UW Oshkosh baseball team took on UW-Whitewater in a best-of-three series in the NCAA Division III Super Regionals at Prucha Field at Jim Miller Stadium where the Titans fell 2-1 in the series.
In game one of the best-of-three series May 23, the Titans lost 14-1 to the Warhawks. UWW responded to UWO’s first inning run by Jake Surane, who scored off a wild pitch, with 14 unanswered runs.
The Titans offense collectively had five hits. Jack McNamara was the only player with more than one after he went 2-for-3. Nick Shiu went 1-for-3, Jack Surane went 1-for-3 with a run and Zach Taylor went 1-for-4.
Connor Brinkman was the starting pitcher for UWO and he managed to go four innings, striking out four while giving up 10 earned runs from 10 hits and four walks. After allowing the first two Warhawk batters on base, Michael Hughes came in for relief in the fifth inning. He pitched an inning and allowed three earned runs off four hits and a walk.
Aaron Huibregtse replaced Hughes in the sixth and finished the game out allowing only one more Warhawk to score while giving up five hits and a walk.
The Titans faced elimination in Game Two of the series May 24, but prevailed with a 5-2 victory over the Warhawks.
UWO’s offense got going early in the second of three games as each of the first three Titans to hit scored. Logan Schill reached third from a leadoff double and a throwing error by the Warhawks third baseman, then Shiu drove him in with a single to left center. Surane drove in the last two runs of the inning with a two-run home run to left center.
The Warhawks scored their first run in the third but Shiu responded with a sacrifice fly to knock in Schill for a second time to put the Titans up 4-1. Action didn’t pick back up until the sixth when the Warhawks threatened a comeback with a run and multiple hits in the inning but starting pitcher Josh Jansen was able to overcome the adversity.
Jansen held on to the early lead by pitching seven innings of two-run ball while striking out four and allowing seven hits and four walks. Ryan Richter came in for relief in the eighth inning after Jansen walked the first batter and closed the game out to pick up his first save of the season. Only one Warhawk reached base in Richter’s two innings of relief.
The last run of the game came from a single to center field by Jack McKellips which scored Zach Taylor.
UWO’s offense collectively went 10-for-30 at the plate and walked three times. Three Titan batters had two hits as both Schill and Owen Housinger went 2-for-3 and Stebane went 2-for-4 at the plate.
With over a thousand in attendance, the Titans faced the Warhawks for the third time in the Super Regionals but this time in a win or go home situation. UWW pitching shutout UWO en route to a 10-0 victory.
The offense had four total hits each coming from Schill, who went 1-for-3 and was hit by a pitch, Surane, who went 1-for-4, Stebane, who went 1-for-3 with a walk and McKellips, who went 1-for-3. Schill and Stebane were the only Titans to reach base twice in game three.
Starting pitcher Connor Walters pitched three innings for UWO where he struck out two batters, gave up four total runs, six hits and a walk. Brett Gaynor replaced Walters in the midst of the top of the fourth and went on to pitch 2.2 innings with one strikeout, six hits and three walks that led to four earned runs.
Richter came in for relief for the second time that day and pitched 2.1 innings while giving up one earned run and four hits, then Nick Rector pitched the final inning and struck out three batters while giving up one unearned run.
The 10-0 defeat brings the curtain down on a historic season for UWO (35-16). While the Titans head into the off-season with their deepest NCAA run since 2007, UWW (44-6) moves on to the eight-team Division III College World Series at Classic Park in Eastlake, Ohio, beginning May 30.
