UW-Oshkosh Works Out of One Last Rally to Hold Off St. Olaf

Box Score

     UW-Oshkosh escaped one jam after another in Friday�s 5-4 over St. Olaf, but saved its best for last to reach the final day of the NCAA Division III regional tournament in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.

     The Titans turned double plays in three consecutive innings and stranded 14 Oles� runners, including two each in the final three innings to pull out the victory and improve to 34-11 overall. They will face St. Thomas on Saturday at noon with the winner to play UW-Stevens Point for the regional title at 3:30 p.m.

     In the ninth inning, St. Olaf trailed 5-3 and had a leadoff double by Chris Terrazas. After two groundouts, Luke Gagnon hit a groundball to shortstop, but the throw was dropped by Titans� first baseman Brad Demmin, who had been hit in the eye by an errant pickoff throw earlier and left the game after the injury. Brian Astry followed with a run-scoring single to cut the lead to 5-4 and create intense moments for Titans� reliever Brian Gerl, who recorded the final out for his national-leading 11th save.

     UW-Oshkosh sprinted to a quick lead with a run on a sacrifice fly by Mickey Fadness in the first inning and two runs in the second inning on a throwing error and run-scoring single by Kyle Johnson. The Titans could have extended their lead even further, but Oles� rightfielder Andrew Schmiesing threw out a runner at third base for the third out of the second inning moments before a run would have scored and gunned another runner out at the plate in the third.

     The Oles, who had leadoff hits in six of nine innings, scored single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but had opportunities for more, hitting into double plays in each inning. Terrazas was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth, but UW-Oshkosh extended its lead to 5-1 with two runs in the bottom of the inning as Mike Waupoose had a run-scoring single and Derek Leighton hit a sacrifice fly.

     Jon Wadzinski had a run-scoring single for St. Olaf in the sixth and the Oles loaded the bases with none out in the seventh, scoring only on a double play groundout. St. Olaf even had runners at second and third with two outs in the eighth, but Gerl forced Schmiesing into a groundout to escape another jam.

     Cal Stanke worked five and two-thirds innings, allowing six hits and one earned run with five strikeouts for the win. Andy Dimick took the loss for St. Olaf, giving up 12 hits, but none after the fifth inning. Terrazas was three-for-four and Astry was three-for-five for the Oles. UW-Oshkosh had five players with two hits.