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Pointers Drop Pair
to Warhawks on Final Day
UW-Stevens Point�s offense was shut down by two of
the top pitchers in NCAA Division III baseball on Saturday as UW-Whitewater
clinched its third straight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
title with 5-3 and 5-0 victories over the Pointers at University Field in
Stevens Point.
UW-Stevens Point entered the day with a one-game
lead over the Warhawks in the standings, but UW-Whitewater moved ahead with
the two victories and claimed the top seed for next weekend�s conference
tournament in Wisconsin Rapids. The Warhawks will face fourth-seeded
UW-Platteville at 10 a.m. and the second-seeded Pointers take on
third-seeded UW-Oshkosh at 1 p.m. It marks the fourth straight year the
Pointers and Titans will play in the opening round.
After pounding out 31 runs and 35 hits in a
doubleheader sweep of the Warhawks on Friday, the Pointers were limited to
seven hits in the opener by senior lefty Kevin Tomasiewicz and four hits in
the nightcap by junior righty Greg Reinhard. UW-Stevens Point finished the
regular season at 32-8 overall and 19-5 in the WIAC, while UW-Whitewater is
36-4 overall and 20-4 in the league.
The Pointers did all their scoring in the first
three innings of the opening game, tallying two runs against Tomasiewicz in
the second inning to snap his scoreless innings streak at 34 straight. Nat
Richter had a fielders� choice groundout with the bases loaded and none out
to drive home the first run and then got caught in a rundown to allow Chuck
Brehm to score from third base for a 2-0 lead.
UW-Whitewater plated a pair of unearned runs in
the bottom of the inning as Aaron Soto had a run-scoring single and Jeff
Newcomer hit a sacrifice fly. Joel Hojnacki led off the third with a solo
homer for the Pointers, but Eric Baldwin tied the game for the Warhawks with
an RBI single in the bottom of the inning.
After two outs in the UW-Whitewater fourth, Greg
Harder walked and scored on a double by Nick Teach. It was the story of the
day for the Pointers, who walked 11 batters and saw eight of them score.
The Pointers left runners at second and third in
the sixth and first and second in the seventh, failing to score in each
inning. Soto added an RBI single in the eighth for the Warhawks� final run.
Matt Polomis took the loss for the Pointers and pitched seven innings,
retiring the last 10 batters. Tomasiewicz finished with eight strikeouts and
four walks.
All five of UW-Whitewater�s runs in the second
game reached base by walks as the Warhawks got a run-scoring single by Eddie
Adamson and a sacrifice fly by Soto after two Pointers errors for a pair of
unearned runs in the third. Dan Gnatzig added a run-scoring single in the
fourth and Adamson had a two-run single in the seventh.
The Pointers mounted little offense against
Reinhard until the ninth when they had two of their four hits and loaded the
bases, but he recorded his 14th strikeout of the game to end the threat and
seal the title-clinching win. Mike Rickert took the loss for UW-Stevens
Point. |
