Final

Bolcoa’s blast buries Sabres
By: John Dinse

Scott Bolcoa picked the perfect time to introduce himself to Titan fans Sunday afternoon at Tiedemann Field.

Pinch hitting with two-on, two-out in the eighth inning, Bolcoa, a senior transfer from Avila University in Kansas City, crushed the first pitch he saw from Marian College reliever Dan Wolter over the right field wall.

Bolcoa’s three-run home run was his first of the season and put the Titans, who were forced to rally all day against the Sabres, up for good 13-11.

“The pitcher threw a fastball right down the middle and I connected on the first pitch,” said Bolcoa in the April 6 issue of the Advance Titan.

Bolcoa transferred to Oshkosh after visiting the campus and Wisconsin Woodchuck teammate and current Titan All-American, senior second baseman Jeremy Jirschele.

Prior to Sunday Bolcoa had played sparingly. Still, head coach Tom Lechnir didn’t hesitate to pinch hit Bolcoa in a pressure situation.

“We thought we had a good lefty, righty matchup and Scott would be able to see the ball off their pitcher well. Scott is an RBI threat anytime he comes up to bat,”
said Lechnir.

Titan pitchers struggled with pitch location all day allowing 11 runs on 18 hits.

UW-Oshkosh starting pitcher, sophomore Adam Bretl, cruised through the first two innings only to run into trouble in the third. Following back-to-back RBI singles by Josh Wolter and Dan Wilson, Sabre catcher Kurt Miller hit a three-run bomb off of Bretl.

Marian added two more runs in the fourth inning off of junior reliever Jim Ziegler to extend their lead 7-3.

After the Sabres scored one more time in the top half of the sixth inning, the Titan offense came to life.

Following a RBI fielder’s choice by sophomore catcher Eric Holdorf, Jirschele ripped a three-run home run off of Sabre starting pitcher Jason Bunton to bring the Titan within a run, 8-7.

Marian would not go away scoring two runs in the top of the seventh and adding one more in the eighth.

Down 10-11 in the bottom of the eighth with two-on, two-out Lechnir went to Bolcoa, a decision that resulted in a three-run blast and a Titan victory.

UWO pitchers were helped by the double play all day, tying a NCAA Division III record by turning six in game one of the doubleheader.

The Titans entered Sunday’s action ranked ninth in Division III.

Currently 11-1, the Titans will host a twinbill Wednesday versus Cardinal-Stritch University. Start time for the game is 1 p.m. The Titans will resume conference play with a pair of doubleheaders against UW-La Crosse on Saturday and Sunday at Tiedemann Field.