UW-Oshkosh Completes Series Sweep

For Immediate Release: Sunday, April 26, 2009

Oshkosh, Wis. – The UW-La Crosse baseball team dropped a pair of WIAC contests at UW-Oshkosh Sunday afternoon at Tiedemann Field. The Titans took the opener, 6-5 in 11 innings, and the nightcap, 11-2. UW-L, which has lost nine of its last 10 games, falls to 17-15 overall and 9-11 in the conference while UW-Oshkosh improves to 20-12 overall and 12-6 in the league.

In the opener, UW-L took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on Matt Trocke's single, but UW-Oshkosh scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning. The Titans took a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth on a pair of unearned runs as Derek Hiroskey had a sacrifice fly and Travis Helland an RBI double.

The Eagles scored four runs in the top of the seventh to take a 5-4 lead. Joey Casper scored on an Titans' error to make it 4-2, Jay Fanta came in on a fielder's choice and Storm Gram tied the game after scoring on an error. Darren O'Donnell gave UW-L the lead on an RBI single to score Cory Poppitz as UW-Oshkosh finished with four errors in the inning. The Eagles got the first two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but the Titans' Brock Wetenkamp singled and was replaced by pinch-runner Lucas Wirth. After moving to second on a UW-L wild pitch, Wirth tied the game at 5-5 on a Justin Jirschele single.

UW-Oshkosh scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the 11th as Pete Berg had a sacrifice fly to score Travis Derocha with the bases-loaded.

Steve Henes (1-1) took the loss for UW-L, pitching 2.0 innings, allowing two hits, one run and three walks while striking out two. Brandon Walczak started for the Eagles, going 7.0 innings, allowing nine hits, four runs (one earned) and two walks with five strikeouts. Sean Cory and O'Donnell each had two hits.

Kyle Kannenberg (5-3) picked up the win for the Titans, going 4.1 innings, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out four. Jason Fosler, Hiroskey and Helland each finished with two hits.

The Titans scored seven runs on nine hits in the bottom of the second inning of the nightcap as Blake Berger and Fosler each had two-run singles. Fanta hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth for the Eagles, but UW-Oshkosh scored single runs in the fifth and sixth to lead 9-1. Casper had an RBI double in the eighth for UW-L to knock in Josh Weber, but Justin Jirschele had a fielder's choice for an RBI and Hiroskey a run-scoring single for UW-Oshkosh in the bottom of the inning to finish the scoring.

Luke Zurbriggen (1-3) suffered the loss, pitching 1.2 innings, allowing six hits, six runs and two walks with one strikeout. Six different players had a hit for UW-L.

Ryan Kuepper (3-2) earned the complete-game win for UW-Oshkosh, going 9.0 innings, allowing six hits and two runs while striking out two. Fosler finished 4-for-5 at the plate with three RBI while Berger and Ben Sebesta each had three hits. The Titans finished with 20 hits in the second game.

UW-L returns to action Tuesday, April 28 against city-rival Viterbo University in the Wells Fargo Copeland Cup. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Copeland Park in La Crosse.