THE SHORT STORY: Earlham College baseball rallied with three runs in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings, but Wisconsin-Oshkosh plated a solo run in the top of the 10th and held on for a 6-5 win over the Quakers, on Sunday afternoon at Sadler Stadium.
Wisconsin-Oshkosh manufactured a run in the top of the first inning, taking advantage of Zack Radde's two-base liner into left-center field. He advanced to third on Dylan Ott's ground out to second, and came home on Alex Koch's sacrifice fly to center field.
Ott's hard hit fly ball to right-center with one out in the top of the third was mishandled by the Quaker outfield, putting runners on second and third. Koch skyed a ball to center field, plating Zach Radde for a 2-0 Titan lead.
Earlham got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth. Austin Hatfield reached on a dropped fly ball by the Oshkosh right fielder to get things going. Robby Shondel sent a grounder through the right side on a hit-and-run, moving Hatfield over to third. He was then picked off first, but the run-down allowed Hatfield to score for the Quakers' first run of the game.
Danny Dopp belts his first home run of the season with a solo shot to left field in the bottom of the sixth, cutting the Oshkosh lead to 3-2.
The Titans put up single runs in both the seventh and eighth innings. Radde laced a single into right-center field in the seventh, plating Jonathan Selchow to extend UWO's lead to 4-2. Oshkosh went up 5-2 in the eighth when Koch got aboard on a ground-rule double to left-center, and crossed on Hunter Staniski's base hit up the middle.
Earlham knotted the game at 5-5 with a three-run uprising in the bottom of the ninth. Marc Gendreau drew a leadoff walk, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on Dopp's single up the middle. Brian Pincura singled to left to move Dopp over to second, and then Cameron McCable sacrificed Pincura and pinch runner James Grace into scoring position. Austin Hatfield drove in both Pincura and Grace for the game-tying runs on a single into right field. Pinch runner Connor Drews advanced to second on a wild pitch, and pinch hitter Addison Robertson screamer toward left field was snared out of the air by Titan third baseman Selchow, ending the Quaker scoring threat.
In the top of the 10th, Ott reached on a fielding error at third base, went to second on a ground out to the pitcher, and scored on Kade Bohlman's single to right field. Earlham's Isaiah Shake reached on an error with one out in the bottom of the 10th, but Titan reliever Jared Horton retired the next two batters to earn the save.
Danny Dopp led Earlham at the plate with a 3-for-4 effort, with four other players each recording a hit. The Quakers finished the day with seven hits, three of which came in the ninth inning, and had four runners left on base.
Quaker starter Spencer Owen last four innings on the mound, charting two strikeouts with five hits and two earned runs allowed. Four relievers saw action for Earlham, with Domanick Michael working 2.0 innings and taking the loss.
Wisconsin-Oshkosh pounded out 13 hits off Earlham pitchers, led by Zack Radde with three hits.
Earlham opens Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play on Tuesday, March 26, when it travels to Lexington, Ky., to face Transylvania University. The HCAC doubleheader will start at 12:00 p.m.