Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com

Senior left-handed pitcher Chris Atwood registered the 10th no-hitter in the history of the UW-Oshkosh baseball program during the Titans' doubleheader sweep of Finlandia University (Mich.) on Sunday (March 31) at Tiedemann Field.

UW-Oshkosh (11-6) defeated the Lions by nine-inning scores of 8-0 in the opener and 10-2 in the nightcap to extend its winning streak to nine straight games. The Titans also won seven-inning contests of 10-0 and 21-7 against Finlandia University (2-12) on Saturday (March 30).

Atwood (2-2) threw only 88 pitches in Sunday's first game and retired 27 of the 29 Lions he faced. Atwood struck out a career-high 13 batters, including two in the first, second, eighth and ninth innings, as he recorded his first complete-game performance in six career starts.

Only two Lions reached first base against Atwood, Isaac Rodriguez and Devonte Fleming during consecutive at-bats to lead off the eighth inning. Rodriguez reached on a passed ball following a strikeout and Fleming was hit on the ensuing pitch. Atwood then worked out of the mini-jam by retiring the next three batters in order.

Atwood's no-hitter was UW-Oshkosh's first since right-hander Tom Petri held Lyon College (Ark.) hitless on March 12, 1995. Atwood's no-hitter on Sunday was the WIAC's first since Jason Hooper of UW-Whitewater accomplished the feat against UW-Stout on April 11, 2010.

While Atwood was mowing down the Lions, Finlandia University starting pitcher Ashton Knutson (2-1) was experiencing similar success against the Titans. Knutson limited the Titans to just two hits before allowing his first run in the sixth inning. UW-Oshkosh then removed Knutson from the contest with it scored six runs on six hits and one Finlandia University error in the seventh inning.

UW-Oshkosh totaled 10 hits in the opener, including three by Dylan Ott and two each from Alex Koch and Kade Bohlman. Ott stole three bases and scored twice while driving in two runs with seventh-inning single. Koch had a run-scoring single in the sixth inning and a run-scoring double in the seventh.

Sunday's second contest featured UW-Oshkosh sophomore Will Michalski (1-0) scattering eight hits during his first complete-game performance. Michalski, who struck out five batters, allowed single runs to the Lions in the sixth and ninth innings.

UW-Oshkosh took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Hunter Staniske single. The Titans then scored four times in the second frame on a Jonathan Selchow solo home run, a Koch two-run double and a Jensen Hinton run-scoring single. The home run was Selchow's first of the season and the second of his career.

The Titans increased their lead to 6-0 with a Hinton run-scoring single and a Sean Cummins sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.

UW-Oshkosh added two more runs in the sixth inning on bases-loaded walks issued to Bohlman and Zack Radde. The Titans scored their final run on a seventh-inning single by Cummins.

Finlandia University scored its two runs on a sixth-inning sacrifice fly by Rodriguez and a ninth-inning single by Austin Green.

Both teams tallied eight hits in the nightcap. Staniske and Hinton had two hits apiece for the Titans while Patrick Coles and Sawyer Murrell had two hits each for the Lions.

Joey Krug (0-2) pitched the first two innings for the Lions and took the loss after yielding four hits and five runs. Krug was followed on the mound by Brandon Teichman in the third inning, Nate Johnson in the sixth and Steve Guberti in the seventh. All three Finlandia University relievers allowed at least one hit and one run.

UW-Oshkosh travels to UW-Whitewater this weekend for doubleheaders against the Warhawks on Saturday (April 6) and Sunday (April 7).