Pioneers Drop Season-Opener in Florida to UW-Oshkosh

3/17/2013 6:16:00 PM

Utica, N.Y.

Box Score

Fort Myers, FL (3-17-13) – The Utica College baseball team lost its season opener Sunday afternoon, 10-3, to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Lee County, Florida. Senior leftfielder Tyler Young led UC with two hits and one runs scored.

Utica (0-1) returns to the diamond Monday for an afternoon double header against the University of Wisconsin-Stout. 
First pitch of game one is scheduled for 10 a.m.  UW-Oshkosh (4-0) extends its win streak to four after opening up its 2013 campaign with back-to-back double header sweeps, averaging 9.5 runs per game.  The Titans return to the field Monday as well and will face Plymouth State University for a pair of games set to begin at 10 a.m.

After a quiet, scoreless first inning of play, Oshkosh got on the board with four quick runs in the top of the second on two hits, a fielders’ choice and a sacrifice fly. The Titans continued their momentum into the third as they gathered two more scores on a home run by leftfielder Bobby Kachel to take a 6-0 lead. 

Following two quick scoreless innings by both teams, Oshkosh came out in the sixth and seventh and piled on four more runs to manufacture a convincingly, 10-0 lead.

The Pioneers finally got the bats going and got on the board in the bottom of seventh and eighth innings with three runs, however could not muster up seven more runs for the comeback.

Sophomore right fielder Nick Perkins knocked in Young for his first RBI of the year as he reached first on a fielding error for UC’s first score. Perkins also registered a stolen base on the next play.

The next inning, Utica would gather two more runs as freshman catcher Joseph Horning drove in senior Nick Dunbar on a rope single to left in his first collegiate at bat.  Freshman Matthew DeMartino scored UC’s third and final run as sophomore Vincent Burillo reached first on an error.

Junior captain Alec Choleva struck out five Titans while tossing five innings in the loss. Choleva allowed six earned runs on eight hits. Freshman pitcher James Corcoran and sophomore Stephen Szatko closed out the game for Utica with 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits.