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Pointers Win Three
Games in One Day for WIAC Tournament Title
�One pitch at a time�One inning at a time�One game
at a time.�
That was the simple mantra for the UW-Stevens
Point baseball team entering Sunday�s final day of the Wisconsin
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament in Wisconsin Rapids
and the plan worked to perfection as the Pointers won three games in one day
to clinch their second straight tournament crown.
The wins also award the Pointers their second
straight berth to the NCAA Division III tournament and their fourth trip in
six years. UW-Stevens Point is now 29-15 overall and will learn its first
round pairing early Monday morning before beginning regional play on
Wednesday.
UW-Stevens Point, which also won three nine-inning
games on the final day of the 2001 conference tournament, pounded out 36
runs, 45 hits and 21 extra-base hits while using seven different pitchers
during the nearly eight-and-a-half hour stretch of baseball. UW-Stevens
Point also did not have an error in the final two games. The Pointers opened
the day at 10 a.m. with a 10-9 win over UW-La Crosse and then swept
UW-Whitewater 14-7 and 12-2 with the final run scoring at about 6:15 p.m. to
end the game by the 10-run rule in eight innings.
�We couldn�t have been tougher today,� Pointers�
coach Pat Bloom said. �Our guys showed a lot of character and heart and a
tremendous amount of resiliency. The whole time our guys stuck together and
believed.�
�You can�t even put a day like this into words,�
Pointers� senior centerfielder Chuck Brehm said. �It�s just a testament to
the hard work we put in and the confidence that we have.�
The Pointers never trailed the entire day and
looked to 26-year old senior pitcher Josh Perkins, who was the winning
pitcher in the third game on the final day of 2001 tournament, for a
reminder of that mantra that carried the Pointers to three straight wins in
what was also the last time a fourth seed won the conference tournament.
�I asked Josh Perkins this morning to tell the
team our approach during that day in 2001,� said Bloom, who was an assistant
coach that season. �We weren�t going to think about it in sum. I know it
sounds clich�, but that�s really what you have to do is approach it one
pitch at a time.�
Perkins, who also picked up the win in the 2002
WIAC tourney finals, pitched the final two innings to earn a save in this
year�s title game, coming one day after striking out 15 batters in a
complete game shutout over UW-Oshkosh. He pitched 11 scoreless innings and
allowed just seven hits over the two days.
�I told coach I for sure had one inning in me,�
Perkins said. �The adrenaline just carried me through today.�
Perkins came on in relief of sophomore Mike Thrun,
who allowed just four hits over six innings to earn his first career win
over a WIAC foe while making his first career postseason appearance.
The Pointers scored four runs in the fourth inning
when Nat Richter, Ryan Byrnes and Doug Coe all doubled before Tim Schlosser
belted a two-run homer. UW-Whitewater rallied with a two-run homer by Billy
Johnson in the top of the fourth.
UW-Stevens Point added two-run homers by Brandon
Scheidler and Chuck Brehm in the seventh and then put four more runs on the
board in the eighth to end the game. It was the 16th time the Pointers and
Warhawks have played in the past two years with UW-Stevens Point winning
nine of the meetings.
In the first championship round game, the Pointers
got eight and one-third innings from starter Travis Kempf as UW-Stevens
Point held a 10-run lead before the Warhawks scored three runs in the bottom
of the ninth.
Byrnes hit a three-run homer in the third inning
to put UW-Stevens Point ahead 4-0, but the Warhawks rallied with four runs
in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. Richter broke the tie with a
three-run shot in the fourth and Coe added a three-run blast in the sixth to
put the Pointers up 12-4.
Against UW-La Crosse, the Pointers built a 10-4
lead after scoring two runs in the top of the sixth. However, the Eagles
battled back with four runs in the bottom of the inning and one more in the
eighth. Jeff Zielke came on in relief to force a popup and strand two
runners on in the eighth and then recorded a strikeout to end the game and
strand two more Eagles� baserunners in the ninth for his fourth save. Ryan
Hopkins earned the win with five innings pitched and Brandon Hemstead
provided two and two-thirds innings of relief.
UW-Stevens Point had six different players record
at least five hits during the day while pounding out 14 doubles and seven
home runs. Byrnes and Richter each had six hits and seven RBI�s. |
