Titans Build Early Lead to Hold Off St. Scholastica

Box Score

     Two-run home runs by Sam Spurney and Mickey Fadness vaulted UW-Oshkosh to an early lead and an 11-5 win over St. Scholastica in an elimination game on Thursday at the NCAA Division III baseball regional in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.

     Spurney hit his blast in a three-run second inning and Fadness cleared the fence in a three-run third to give the Titans a 6-0 lead. St. Scholastica, which had one hit over the first four innings, came to life in the fifth, but saw its season end at 36-8 overall. UW-Oshkosh is now 33-11 and plays an opponent to be determined at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

     The Saints opened the fifth with four straight singles from the bottom four batters in the order. Steve Gerten hit a run-scoring single and Keith Ritsche scored on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 6-2. St. Scholastica was threatening for more runs with the bases loaded with none out, but Titans� closer Brian Gerl entered the game and forced a groundout and two short flyouts to limit the Saints to just one more run and keep the lead at 6-3.

     The teams traded runs in the sixth as the Titans� Kyle Kannenberg hit a solo home run and Gerten added a run-scoring single in the bottom of the inning, but St. Scholastica stranded two more runners to trail 7-4. UW-Oshkosh blew open the game with a three-run seventh following a two-out Saints� error. Fadness, Mike Waupoose and Ryan Demmin all had run-scoring singles in the inning.

     St. Scholastica had four errors in the game and ended with 10 errors in its two tournament games after committing just 41 in its first 42 games of the year.

     Fadness was three-for-four and Jason Fosler was two-for-four with four runs scored for the Titans. Waupoose finished two-for-three with two RBI�s.

     Ritsche, who pitched the final four and two-thirds innings in relief of starter Mark Erickson, led the Saints at three-for-four. Sean Tracy, Seth Engberg and Gerten were all two-for-four as St. Scholastica�s top four hitters in the lineup were a combined 0-for-17.

     Gerl pitched five innings and allowed five hits and two runs with three strikeouts. Jeremy Rubens pitched the first four innings for the Titans.