March 22, 2009, Winter Haven, Fla. —  DePauw opened play at the Russmatt Tournament and dropped a 3-1 decision to 22nd-ranked Wisconsin-Oshkosh and a 7-3 contest against St. Thomas (Minn.). The Tigers fell to 8-7 with the losses.

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the first game as Chris Schenk led off with a bunt single, moved to second on Ben Gardner's sacrifice bunt, stoke third and scored on Justin Weiner's infield single.

Oshkosh plated two in the sixth as Mickey Fadness led off with a single and moved to second on Derek Hiroskey's sacrifice bunt. Justin Jirschele walked and both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch. Ben Sebesta followed with a two-run single to make it 2-1. They added the final run in the eighth when Fadness singled and scored on Jirschele's double to center.

DePauw totaled nine hits, but left eight runners stranded. Weiner, Schenk and Rob McPike each collected two hits. Oshkosh finished with eight hits led by Nolan Fadness and Mickey Fadness with two each.

Brad Gerlach suffered the loss despite allowing just two runs and six hits in six innings and dropped to 3-2. Ryan Demmin picked up the win in relief in the Titans' first game of the year and Jermey Rubens picked up the save.

St. Thomas took a 1-0 lead in the afternoon game as Drew Cremisino's sacrifice fly drove in Tom Wippler who led off the inning with a double. Jon Newman led off the DePauw second with a double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Alex Wright's groundout.

The Tommies put together a two-out rally in the fourth as Roy Larson reached on a walk and moved to second on Cremisino's single. A failed pickoff attempt resulted in Larson scoring and giving St. Thomas a 2-1 lead. The Tigers knotted the score in the bottom of the fourth as Newman drew a walk and moved to second on Sam Linettte's single. A double steal followed by Wright's groundout plated Newman with the game-tying run.

Another two-out rally in the eighth gave St. Thomas the lead for good. John Means tripled and pinch-runner Derek Jacobson scored on Larson's single. Larson stole second and went to third on an errant throw before Cremisino walked. Brady Field then singled in Larson to give the Tommies a 4-2 advantage.

St. Thomas added three more in the ninth as Wippler tripled home Matt Olson Olson and scored on Larson's single. Jacobson rounded out the scoring after coming home from third on a wild pitch. DePauw scored an unearned run in the ninth as Linette reached on an error moved to third on Schenk's double and scored on Gardner's groundout.

Weiner led the Tigers with two of their seven hits, while Wright drove in a pair and Newman scored two. Wippler and Larson each had three of the Tommies' 11 hits.

John Licht picked up the win in relief of starter Brady Gibbs, while Hobs Donovan suffered the loss and dropped to 0-1.

DePauw returns to action on Monday with a doubleheader against St. Olaf.