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Pointers Open
Season With Two One-Run Victories
UW-Stevens Point squeaked out a pair of one-run
victories against two of the Midwest Region�s top baseball teams to open the
season on Monday at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
The Pointers, ranked fifth in the NCAA Division
III by the American Baseball Coaches Association, beat 18th-ranked St.
Thomas 4-3 in the opener and then held off St. Scholastica 7-6 in the second
game. UW-Stevens Point has played both schools each of the past two years in
the NCAA tournament, beating St. Thomas each time and losing twice to St.
Scholastica.
UW-Stevens Point had solid pitching performances
in both games as Mike Thrun allowed just two hits and one earned run over
five innings in the opening game and Brandon Hemstead pitched six and
one-third innings of two-hit relief in the nightcap. Matt Mehne pitched the
ninth inning of each game for a pair of saves.
Against St. Thomas,
Brandon Scheidler was three-for-four, scored what proved to be the winning
run in the seventh, and drove in another on a sacrifice fly to the warning
track. Doug Coe went two-for-three, including a two-out RBI single in the
third. Justin Bushong had a two-out RBI single in the sixth, and Joel
Hojnacki tripled and scored in the third.
Mark Bolan�s two-out
RBI triple in the top of the eighth pulled St. Thomas within 4-3. Dan Leslie
followed at the plate but Ryan Byrnes made a sliding catch on his sinking
liner to keep the tying run off the board. Travis Kempf added three innings
of three-hit relief for the Pointers.
In the second game,
UW-Stevens Point rallied from an early 5-0 deficit as St. Scholastica scored
four unearned runs in the second inning, highlighted by a three-run triple
by Steve Kraushaar. The Pointers scored all seven of their runs in the top
of the third inning as Tim Schlosser drilled a three-run double, Doug Coe
hit a run-scoring single and Stewart Larsen followed with a two-run double
for a 6-5 lead. Larsen later scored on a dropped third strike following a
two-out strikeout.
The Saints mustered
little offense against Hemstead, who allowed singles in the third and fourth
innings and then retired his last eight batters faced. Mehne allowed a
leadoff single in the ninth, but induced three flyouts to end the game. Coe
finished two-for-four as the Pointers had six of their eight hits in the
third inning. |
