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Pointers Blank
Titans to Claim Regional Title
Jordan Zimmermann and UW-Stevens Point had been in
this situation before and looked like seasoned postseason veterans as the
Pointers rolled to a 6-0 victory over UW-Oshkosh to earn their second
straight NCAA Division III regional championship on Saturday in Wisconsin
Rapids.
Zimmermann pitched six and one-third innings,
allowing two hits and no runs, while also going three-for-five at the plate
with two runs batted in to earn his second straight tournament Most Valuable
Player award. Zimmermann, pitching on two day�s rest, did the same in last
year�s title game and had 15 strikeouts to beat Ripon. He had 10 strikeouts
and no walks against UW-Oshkosh to finish the tournament with 21 strikeouts
and no walks in 14 and one-third innings, while improving to 9-0 for the
season.
The win puts the Pointers back at Fox Cities
Stadium in Appleton for Division III World Series where they will face
Ferrum (Va.) or Emory (Ga.) in an opening round game at 10 a.m. on Friday.
UW-Stevens Point is now 32-15 overall and defeated UW-Oshkosh for the second
straight weekend after handing the Titans a 9-2 setback in the Wisconsin
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament finals at the same field. The
Pointers won four of six meetings this year between the league rivals.
Zimmermann was the story of the day, striking out
all three batters in the first inning and seven of the Titans� first 10
batters of the game. He also knocked in the game�s first run with a two-out
single to left that scored Brad Archambeau.
�Jordan is exactly what you look for from an
upper-echelon athlete,� said Pointers� coach Pat Bloom of his junior, who
has 64 strikeouts and eight walks while allowing only 25 hits in 48 and
one-third career NCAA tournament innings. �Big-time players perform at their
best in the postseason and that�s exactly what Jordan has done. Even better
is that as good of a player he is, he�s just as good of a character person
off the field.�
UW-Oshkosh had both of its hits off Zimmermann in
the second inning, but he got a popup to the pitcher to end the inning. The
Titans had a chance to score in the fifth when Ryan Demmin was hit by a
pitch and reached third base with two outs, however, Zimmermann got a fly
out to keep the 1-0 lead.
UW-Stevens Point added to its lead in the sixth
when Brandon Scheidler and Stewart Larsen singled to chase reliever Jeremy
Rubens, who pitched three and one-third innings in relief of starter Adam
Bretl. Brad Bolton entered in relief for the Titans and Ryan Byrnes blasted
his first pitch deep to left center field for a three-run homer. The
Pointers tallied another run in the inning on a run-scoring single by Tim
Schlosser after a two-out error.
Zimmermann hit the first batter in the seventh and
then got a fielder�s choice groundout before leaving to a large ovation from
the crowd of 679 fans. Mike Thrun, who beat the Titans in last week�s
conference final, came on in relief and got a strikeout and popout to end
the inning. Thrun, who gave up seven runs in less than two innings in the
Pointers� miracle comeback win over Ripon on Friday, retired eight of the
nine UW-Oshkosh batters he faced with four strikeouts.
Zimmermann added a run-scoring single in the
eighth as the Pointers outhit the Titans 15-3 for the game. Larsen was
three-for-four and was 10-for-16 in the regional to land all-tournament
honors. The Pointers had six players with at least two hits. |
