Pointer Relievers Force Second Championship Game

Box Score

     UW-Stevens Point relievers Jeff Zielke and Josh Perkins both worked out of tight jams and stranded 12 Ripon baserunners as the Pointers stayed alive in the NCAA Division III regional with a 7-4 win over the Red Hawks in the regional final round on Saturday in Wisconsin Rapids.

     The Pointers� win set up a second championship game later on Saturday and snapped Ripon�s 13-game winning streak.

     Zielke entered the game with his team trailing 2-1 in the fourth inning and got a pair of outs to escape a bases-loaded, one-out jam. The Pointers then put together a pair of three run innings before another Red Hawks� rally in the eighth. Zielke hit the first batter and then three straight hits plated a pair of runs and put runners at first and second with one out. Perkins came on to get a pop out and then struck out Red Hawks� sluggers Tyler Haddock and Eric Schwendimann to end the threat.

     Ripon�s Bob Abel opened the scoring with a two-run homer off Pointers� starter Mike Thrun in the second inning. The Pointers got a sacrifice fly from Nat Richter in the third inning to cut the lead to 2-1. Zielke then held the Red Hawks without another run until the eighth, striking out seven in three and two-thirds innings for the victory. In fact, UW-Stevens Point�s pitchers struck out 13 batters in the game.

     The Pointers rallied in the fifth as Jordan Zimmermann tied the game with a leadoff home run. Brandon Scheidler walked and scored on an error later in the inning and Ryan Byrnes hit a sacrifice fly for a 4-2 advantage.

     UW-Stevens Point tallied three more runs in the sixth with a pair of clutch two-out hits. Jake Frombach lofted a single into shallow left field to drive home the first run and then Richter ripped a two-run single to right-center for a 7-2 advantage.

     Perkins, pitching on one day�s rest, retired all six batters faced and struck out three for his third save of the season.

     The Red Hawks, whose most recent defeat came to UW-Stevens Point in a doubleheader sweep on April 25, were led by Bob Abel at three-for-three with three RBI�s. Frombach was three-for-five for the Pointers.

     Nick Collins pitched a complete game for Ripon, allowing 10 hits and five earned runs.