OSHKOSH — It’s been a surreal season for the (34-14, 20-8) UW-Oshkosh baseball team. They’re making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2018, and after taking down the regional championship in Minnesota this past weekend, they find themselves just a few wins away from the College World Series.
“We’re on the verge of having an unbelievable season when nobody expected us to really be that good," said Titans head coach Kevin Tomasiewicz.
“We knew this was our year to do it, and we went out and did it, and we’re not done yet," said senior pitcher Connor Brinkman, who earned all-WIAC honors this season.
The Titans have been red hot at the plate. In their 3 wins last weekend, they put up 10 runs or more. In their first victory, they put up a whopping 34 on the University of Chicago.
“We all feed off each other," said senior infielder Jake Surane, who had 9 RBI's in that first win. "First couple of hitters go up there and get hits. Everybody feeds off that positive energy, and the approach everybody else is using and hitting is contagious. We’ve kind of just used that and fed off each other.”
In a best-of-three series that begins on Friday, the Titans play WIAC foe (42-5, 24-4) UW-Whitewater, a team they went 1-5 against this season.
“I think the biggest thing is that you have to realize – it’s 0-0," Tomasiewicz said. "Whatever happened in the previous meetings doesn’t matter.”
Despite facing a familiar rival, the Titans say they can’t get too hyped up for the series, but know they’ll have to play perfect ball to advance.
“Swings get big, pitchers try to do too much and don’t throw strikes," said Surane. "We gotta stay within ourselves. Treat it as another game and go out there and do our thing.”
“It’s good baseball," said Brinkman. "You got a good team going against a good team. It’s going to be fun to watch.”
No matter what happens this weekend, for Brinkman and his fellow seniors, bringing a winning culture back to a team that’s had great success in the past means everything.
“It’s been a long time in the making for this to happen, and these young guys, for them to get to go this far early in their career – it’s going to be a good setting for what’s in store for them.”
The last time the Titans made the College World Series was in 2003. They beat the Warhawks to get there, and coach Tomasiewicz was on the UW-Whitewater team. First pitch is at noon on Friday at UW-Whitewater.
