Baseball Team to Face Ripon in First Round of NCAA Tournament

     Making its fourth NCAA Division III tournament appearance in five seasons, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point baseball team will take on Ripon in the first round of the regional Thursday at 11 a.m. in Oshkosh.

     The Pointers are 29-12 overall and seeded second in the regional at E.J. Schneider Field, which is located next to Oshkosh North High School. Ripon is the third seed and brings a 15-game winning streak into the tournament, having won 23 of its last 24 games. The Red Hawks are 30-7 overall and won the Midwest Conference title for the fourth straight year.

     UW-Stevens Point earned the automatic berth to the tournament after winning three straight games on Saturday. The Pointers beat UW-La Crosse 8-3 and then swept UW-Oshkosh 5-4 and 3-1 at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament in Whitewater.

     The Pointers are making their fifth overall tournament appearance and have played all of their previous regional games in Oshkosh. UW-Oshkosh and the WIAC are co-hosting the event, which is taking place in Oshkosh for the 20^th consecutive year.

     UW-Stevens Point leads the all-time series with Ripon 8-2 as the teams last played in 1999 with the Pointers claiming a 3-2 win in Fort Myers, Fla.

     St. Thomas has finished as the Division III runner-up the past two seasons and brings a 32-8 record into the event. The Pointers beat the Tommies in the 1997 regional, while St. Thomas beat UW-Stevens Point in the 1999 postseason.

     Edgewood is 17-23 overall and won the Lake Michigan Conference title as the fifth seed. The Eagles and Pointers met earlier this season with UW-Stevens Point posting a pair of 7-6 wins.

     The winner of this weekend's regional will advance to the NCAA Division III World Series May 25-29 at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, Wisconsin.

NCAA Division III Baseball Regional Pairings
at E.J. Schneider Field, Oshkosh

Thursday, May 17
Game 1 - #2 seed UW-Stevens Point (29-12) vs. #3 seed Ripon (30-7), 11 a.m.
Game 2 - #1 seed St. Thomas (32-8) vs. #4 seed Edgewood (17-23), 2 p.m.

Friday, May 18
Game 3 - Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 11 a.m.
Game 4 - Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 2 p.m.
Game 5 - Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 5 p.m.

Saturday, May 19
Game 6 - Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 11 a.m.
Game 7 - rematch if Game 3 winner loses Game 6, 2 p.m.