Warhawks dug the long ball in 19-2 win over Oshkosh

The UW-Whitewater baseball team didn’t take long to rinse away the bitter taste of Saturday’s doubleheader loss at UW-Oshkosh by trouncing the Titans 19-2 in the opener of Sunday’s twinbill at Tiedemann Field in Oshkosh.

UWO starting pitcher Andrew Murphy could not get the ball across the plate and was lifted in the first inning by veteran Titan head coach Tom Lechnir down 4-0 without getting an out.

Troy Mrkvicka ended up on the mound the rest of the way for Oshkosh giving up 15 runs (11 earned) on 15 hits.

The wind was blowing out to left field in excess of 30 mph for much of the day and Whitewater made the most of the elements by hitting four home runs in Sunday’s opening game.

Rob Coe, Jeff Donovan, Matt Beyer and Travis Wessels did the damage.

Wessels, who was given his first start at second base this season, responded big-time by going 3 for 5 with a team-high 4 RBI while scoring 2 runs. Wessels finished the game just a triple away from hitting for the cycle.

(In the adjacent photo - Jeff Donovan (34) greets Travis Wessels (16) after scoring on of the Warhawks 19 runs in UWW's 19-2 game-one victory. Wessels and Donovan combined for 5 for 10 at the plate, each hitting a home run and driving in 7 runs. Wessels, who started his first game of the season at second base was just a triple away from hitting for the cycle - Tom Pattison photo)

Matt Beyer finished game-one 2 for 5 including a three-run homer. Jeff Donovan also ended 2 for 5 with 3 RBI. Jared Fon chipped in by going 3 for 4, scoring 3 runs along with an RBI.

Riley Tincher, who was staked to an 8-0 lead in the first inning gave up just 1 earned run while scattering 7 hits to improve his record to 7 & 2 on the season.

Jeff Donovan will be on the mound this afternoon in game-two of the doubleheader.