OSHKOSH, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh baseball team is making its 26th trip to the NCAA DIII championship.
It’s the Titans’ first trip to the tournament since 2018. Coaching staff and players on the team said this season has been years in the making. The UW Oshkosh Titans are loaded with senior leadership which is a bit different than recent seasons. One of the senior leaders on the team is first baseman Zach Taylor, who said he is thankful to finally get a chance to compete in the tournament.
“So making a regional for the first time is really cool,” said Taylor. “It’s really exciting for everybody on the team. Something new to experience and I’m really looking forward to it.”
The coaching staff approached Taylor at the beginning of the year to convince him to stay as a graduate student. Taylor said it was an easy choice to make.
“This is my home, I love being here,” said Taylor. “So it wasn’t too much of a pitch for me, but the goal stays the same: Win games, make a regional. We’ve done that and now it’s just keep winning games moving forward.”
With only one NCAA championship appearance in his 12-year tenure as head baseball coach, Kevin Tomasiewicz said he felt the pressure to succeed on the field. He said he thinks the program is on its way back to its winning ways.
“I think I gave myself an ulcer the last four or five weeks here because knowing this is the year that we have the opportunity to make a long and deep run into the postseason right now,” said Tomasiewicz. “Not saying that we’re not going to be that next year, but this was the year that we were kind of working towards.”
Taylor said the team is as close as ever, which has contributed to their success. He said their goal isn’t to just complete, but there is still work left to be done.
“Step one is making it there and we locked up that position, but there’s still a lot of baseball ahead of us,” said Taylor. “So there’s a take a day of joy and everyone is super excited and then it’s back to work getting ready for these next couple of games.”
Although Taylor said he wants to bring home a national championship to Oshkosh, he hopes he is ultimately remembered as a leader in the five years he spent in the gold and black.
The UWO Titans will start regionals against the University of Chicago Friday morning at 10 a.m. It’s a double elimination regional, with the winner advancing to the super regionals next weekend.
Other state teams that qualified for the Division III baseball tournament include UW-Lacrosse, Beloit College, Milwaukee School of Engineering and UW-Whitewater.
