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Four Pointers Named to WIAC Baseball All-Conference After tying for its second straight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship, the UW-Stevens Point baseball team landed four players on the league’s All-Conference team. The Pointers had two of the five pitchers named to the team in junior Troy Bielmeier and freshman Jeff Pieper. Junior third baseman Rob Govek and sophomore shortstop Pat McCann were also named to the first team. Six UW-Stevens Point players earned honorable mention honors. Bielmeier, a Wautoma native, led the league in earned run average and pitched a league-high three shutouts. He entered last weekend’s conference tournament with the nation’s best ERA, only to surrender two earned runs to finish the season with a 1.19 ERA. He was 6-1 and had 35 strikeouts with just eight walks in 60 1/3 innings pitched. Pieper, a Wausau native and West High School graduate, is just the second freshman pitcher in the last four years to earn All-Conference honors, joining UW-La Crosse’s Darren Stueber in 1998. Pieper ranked second in the WIAC in ERA behind Bielmeier, finishing the season 5-2 with a 2.39 ERA. Pieper had 21 consecutive scoreless innings at mid-season and finished the year with 33 strikeouts and 12 walks in 52 2/3 innings pitched. Govek, a Wausau native and East High School graduate, hit .346 and drove in 22 runs as the Pointers’ cleanup hitter. He started 36 games and had eight doubles and two home runs with 29 runs scored. McCann, an Antigo native, hit .372 and led the Pointers with 39 RBI’s and 79 total bases. McCann scored a team-high 36 runs and had 10 doubles and eight home runs. He also had a .919 fielding percentage while starting all 39 games at shortstop. McCann’s twin brother, Mike McCann, a junior second baseman was named honorable mention for the Pointers. Other honorable mention selections included freshman designated hitter Kevin Fry (Helenville, WI/Lakeside Lutheran), sophomore first baseman Jon Jagler (Wausau, WI/West), junior rightfielder Sam Molski (Stevens Point, WI/SPASH), sophomore centerfielder Randy Reed (Appleton, WI/East) and sophomore pitcher Bill Verbrick (Appleton, WI/Xavier). The Pointers finished 28-11 overall and finished in a three-way tie for the WIAC title after losing to UW-La Crosse 6-2 in Saturday’s championship game. The Pointers tied UW-La Crosse and UW-Whitewater with a total of 11 WIAC victories during the regular season and postseason. UW-Oshkosh junior third baseman Tom Gessner was named the league’s Position Player of the Year, while UW-La Crosse junior pitcher Andy Elskamp was the conference’s Pitcher of the Year. Jim Miller of UW-Whitewater was named the Coach of the Year. |
Four Named All-WIAC in Baseball