OSHKOSH, Wis. — The UW-River Falls baseball team split a WIAC doubleheader at UW-Oshkosh Saturday afternoon, falling in game three of the series before winning the finale against Titans - who received votes in the latest national polls.
The Falcons (12-18, 5-13 WIAC) next head to Menomonie to face UW-Stout on Wednesday, April 23.
UW-Oshkosh 5, UW-River Falls 4
The Falcons held a two-run lead through seven innings but the Titans tied the game in the eighth and scored another in the ninth for the walk-off victory.
Oshkosh claimed an early lead in the second before a Max Stocco RBI single in the fourth scored Andrew Athmann to tie the game at 1-1.
In the sixth inning, the Titans regained the lead, taking advantage of UWRF errors to make it 2-1.
Max Krebs, who already had hits in each of his first three at bats, followed up with a three-run homer in the seventh, scoring
John Santelman and Stocco to give UWRF its first lead of the series at 4-2.
However, the Titans rallied in the eighth inning, scoring two runs to tie the game. Tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, EJ Kuster conceded a leadoff base on balls and an RBI double by the Titans' Mason Kirchberg scored the game-winning run.
Krebs finished with half of UWRF's hits, going 4-for-5 at the plate, including his team-leading eighth home run of the season.
Cade Bruett made his seventh start of the season on the mound and went six innings, allowing just one earned run.
UW-River Falls 12, UW-Oshkosh 5
After the game one heartbreak, the Falcons bounced back with 12 runs off 12 hits in the series finale, including six doubles and a pair of homers.
The game remained scoreless through the first three innings before the Falcons broke through in the fourth. A JV Castillo single brought in Andrew Athmann, and Kaleb Zabielski followed with a three-run homer over the left field fence to give UWRF a 4-0 lead - his second of the season. Athmann added to the lead the next inning with a solo homer to make it 5-0, his second of the year.
UW-Oshkosh responded in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to 5-2, which was answered by UWRF with RBI doubles from Cade Bruett and Max Stocco in the eighth to put the Falcons up 7-2. UWO plated a pair in the bottom half but the Falcon bats erupted in the ninth to put the game out of reach.
UWRF scored five runs off two hits and one Titan error in the ninth, extending its lead to 12-3. The Titans managed to score two more runs in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit.
Falcon starting pitcher Shaun Gavin was strong on the mound, going eight innings with four strikeouts while allowing four earned runs. Athmann, Castillo, Bruett, and Kale Twombly all had two hits apiece.
