UW-Oshkosh Sweeps Twinbill

For Immediate Release: Sunday, April 13, 2008

La Crosse, Wis. – The UW-La Crosse baseball team dropped a WIAC doubleheader with UW-Oshkosh Sunday afternoon at North Campus Field. The Titans, ranked 21st in NCAA Division III, won the opener, 9-6, before coming back to win the nightcap, 15-2 in seven innings.

UW-L drops to 12-12 overall and 5-7 in the WIAC while UW-Oshkosh improves to 12-5 overall and 7-3 in the conference.

In the opener, the Titans scored in each of the first five innings, including two runs in the third, fourth and fifth. Derek Leighton and Kyle Kannenberg had a sacrifice fly in the third and fourth innings while Nolan Fadness had an RBI single in the fifth.

UW-L tallied twice in the second and fourth innings and added one more in the fifth to cut the lead to 8-5. Corey Poppitz and Greg Gibson each had run-scoring singles in the fourth while Tony Peterson added one in the fifth.

The Titans added an insurance run in the ninth on Brock Wetenkamp's RBI groundout before the Eagles' Darren O'Donnell opened the bottom of the inning with a home run.

Fadness finished 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI for UW-Oshkosh while Brad Demmin, Kannenberg and Jason Fosler each had two hits. Wetenkamp scored twice.

Ryan Demmin (3-0) earned the win, going 7.2 innings, allowing 10 hits, five runs (four earned) and four walks while striking out four. Jeremy Rubens picked up his third save of the season, pitching 1.1 innings, allowing two hits and one run with one strikeout.

Storm Gram, O'Donnell, Dusty Otto and Peterson all had two hits for UW-L. Britton Wolf (1-3) took the loss for the Eagles, going 5.0 innings, allowing 11 hits, eight runs (seven earned) and one walk while striking out three.

In the nightcap, UW-Oshkosh took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on Kannenberg's double scoring Pete Berg. UW-L tied it in the bottom of the third on a Titans' throwing error, but UW-Oshkosh scored eight unearned runs in the fifth to lead 9-1. Mike Waupoose finished the scoring with a three-run home run.

The Titans added six more runs in the seventh, highlighted by Shayne Jansen's pinch-hit three-run home run.

Berg, Kannenberg, Fosler, Waupoose and Derek Hiroskey each had two hits for the Titans as they finished with 14 overall. Waupoose scored three times while Berg, Fosler, Leighton and Hiroskey scored twice.

Greg Perlewitz (2-0) earned the win, pitching 7.0 innings, allowing five hits, two runs and three walks with three strikeouts.

Travis Kerr was 2-for-3 for UW-L. Luke Zurbriggen (1-1) suffered the loss, going 5.0 innings, allowing eight hits, nine runs (one earned) and one walk while striking out three.

UW-L and UW-Oshkosh will play another twinbill Monday, April 14 at noon at North Campus Field.