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Baseball Team Hopes Experience Pays Off in WIAC Tournament

     With six seniors and plenty of postseason experience, the UW-Stevens Point baseball team begins its quest for the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament championship and its fourth NCAA Division III tournament berth in five seasons.Text Box: WIAC Baseball Tournament at Prucha Field, Whitewater Friday, May 11 Game 1 - UW-Stevens Point (25-11) at UW-Whitewater (30-7), Noon *Game 2 - UW-La Crosse (15-13-1) vs. UW-Oshkosh (27-7), Noon Game 3 - Game 1 and 2 winners, 3 p.m. *Game 4 - Game 1 and 2 losers, 3 p.m. Saturday, May 12 Game 5 - Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 10 a.m. Game 6 - Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 1 p.m. Game 7 - only if Game 3 winner loses Game 6, 30 min. after Game 6 * - Games 2 and 4 at Whitewater H.S., all others at Prucha Field

     The Pointers are making their fifth consecutive conference tournament appearance and are the fourth seed in this year's tournament. UW-Stevens Point will take on top-seeded and host UW-Whitewater on Friday at noon. Second seed UW-Oshkosh meets UW-La Crosse in the other first round game as the WIAC uses a double-elimination format for the first time ever.

     Eight of the Pointers' nine starters played on the team's 1999 WIAC tournament championship team and in that season's NCAA Division III regional. UW-Stevens Point's top two pitchers, Troy Bielmeier and Bill Verbrick, also played on that team. Designated hitter Paul Molitor, a transfer from Madison Area Technical College, is the only newcomer to the lineup.

     "We've certainly got plenty of big-game experience on this team," said Pointers' coach Brian Nelson, who was an assistant coach with the 1999 squad and the centerfielder on the team's last World Series appearance in 1997. "Our goal was to win the conference (regular season) title, but we're still right where we want to be, having a chance to win the postseason tournament and get back to the NCAA tourney."

     The Pointers lost last year's championship game 6-2 to UW-La Crosse, which won the tournament as a fourth seed. However, because of a point system, UW-Whitewater represented the conference at the NCAA tournament. That format is gone and much simpler this year with the tournament's winner advancing to the national regional. Only five at-large berths are awarded in Division III, so the only sure way to reach the NCAA tournament is to win this weekend.

     "I think this is the best format," Nelson said of the double-elimination schedule. "It really helps assure that the best team wins and what makes this weekend exciting is that all four teams are good enough to win the title. The tournament is really wide open, just as it was last year."

     The Pointers split their regular season meetings with UW-Whitewater, winning the opening game 4-3 and falling 7-4 in the second game on a three-run homer in the ninth inning.