A University of Wisconsin Oshkosh baseball player is spending a lot more time on the ball diamond this summer as a member of the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders.
“It’s very fun but it’s a lot of work and travel, with playing every day,” said Jake Surane of Lincolnshire, Illinois. “This summer will help me big time due to seeing good pitches every day.”
Surane will be senior at UW Oshkosh this fall. He is majoring in information systems and management.
The schedule for the Dock Spiders, who play in the Northwoods League, features about 70 games before the playoffs begin in mid-August. Surane has been living in Oshkosh and commuting to Fond du Lac.
Jake Surane, playing this summer with the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders, will play one more season with the Titans.
He said he is most proud of a game July 27, when he went 3-6 batting, hitting two doubles and a triple, stealing a base, scoring two runs and driving in three. The second baseman was batting .277 as of Aug. 6 and was leading the team with 32 RBI. The Dock Spiders were in fourth place—3½ games back of the league-leading Madison Mallards.
Surane said his time with the Dock Spiders has been a “very enjoyable experience.” The team, made up of top college players from around the country, is a sister team of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers—a minor league team affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Surane will play his senior season with the UWO Titans baseball team next spring and is eligible for an additional season granted by the NCAA due to COVID impacts in 2020.
“Jake is a multi-tool player,” said Kevin Tomasiewicz, UWO baseball head coach. “He can hit for average, run, play multiple positions and throw with the best of them. Jake plays every position on the field. His versatility makes him the ideal college summer league player.”
Tomasiewicz said the Northwoods League is one of the top collegiate summer leagues in the country.
Jake Surane is a senior information systems and management major at UWO.
“Surane’s experience from playing the amount of games he has this summer against high level competition will elevate him to the All-American we know he can be,” Tomasiewicz said, adding that Surane will be in the UWO lineup every day—either in center field or at one of the middle infield positions.
UWO, in recent years, has averaged 4-6 players playing in collegiate summer leagues. This year, due to player injuries and inning limits, Surane is the only Titan player participating.
Surane said he chose UWO for its baseball program and its College of Business.
He said he plans to earn his bachelor’s degree and will play baseball “as long as he can and then find a job in business.”
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