Getting moved down to the ninth spot in the batting order can either harm a player’s confidence or get him motivated.

For the Oshkosh Giants’ Travis Helland, it was decidedly the latter. Helland sparked the Giants offense by going 4-for-4 with a home run and a double from the bottom spot, and helped Oshkosh beat the Manitowoc Bandits, 5-3, in a Wisconsin State League baseball game at E.J. Schneider Field Wednesday.

“He was a little ticked off that I put him in the ninth spot,” Oshkosh coach Brad Demmin said. “He looked like a totally new guy today.”

Helland took notice, and was looking for redemption for himself and his team following the Giants’ embarrassing 14-1 loss to the Menasha Macs Tuesday.

“Brad just likes to get us going, and he got me fired up,” Helland said. “I had to show him something else.”

Pitcher Kyle Kannenberg went the distance for the Giants, only allowing three runs despite giving up 12 hits.

“He made big outs when it counted,” Demmin said. “He put us in positions where he got a lot of ground balls. He’s more a of a strikeout pitcher than anything, so that helped, too.”

It was also a much better showing for Oshkosh’s defense than it was a day earlier in the Menasha loss, which saw Oshkosh lose sight of several balls in the outfield. The Giants (17-13, 15-10) played error-free baseball, another large part of their 24-hour reversal in fortune.

“Yeah, (the Menasha loss) was kind of a wake-up call,” Demmin said.

Oshkosh got going quickly, picking up three runs through the first three innings on a two-run single by Blake Berger in the first and a solo shot from Helland in the second.

The Giants were cruising up 3-0 until Manitowoc tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the seventh.

Oshkosh made sure the comeback was short-lived, however, scoring in the seventh on a wild pitch and adding an insurance run on Drew Eichstaedt’s RBI single in the eighth.

Getting a big league win following the 14-1 debacle was a good feeling for the Giants.

“Baseball’s one of those games where you can have a bad day and you just need to come back and make some adjustments,” Demmin said.

>Notes: Brock Wetenkamp, who plays for the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, plays third base for the Bandits. … Kannenberg had at least one strikeout in six of his nine innings. … Oshkosh never went down in order. >Game ball: Helland, who was 4-for-4 with a home run and a double.>Numbers game: 0 Walks issued by Kannenberg.

Oshkosh 5, Manitowoc 3Manitowoc 000 020 100 — 3 11 0Oshkosh (17-13, 15-10) 210 000 11X — 5 8 0Pitchers — MAN: Brennen Rhode (5 IP, 4 K, 5 BB), Matt Roberts (3 IP, 4 K, 2 BB). OSH: Kyle Kannenberg (9 IP, 7 K). WP: Kannenberg. LP: Roberts.Hitters — MAN: Nat Richter 2-5 (2B), Max Stephan 2-4, Mike Hall 2-4, Brock Wetenkamp 2-3. OSH: Drew Eichstaedt 2-4, Travis Helland 4-4 (HR, 2B), Blake Berger 1-2 (2 RBI).

Reprinted from The Oshkosh Northwestern