WATERLOO, Iowa – A four-run sixth inning and outstanding relief pitching helped the third-seeded UW-Stevens Point baseball team defeat fourth-seeded Anderson (Ind.) 7-4 in an elimination game at the Waterloo Regional on Saturday afternoon at River Front Stadium.
Box Score UW-Stevens Point (33-13) trailed 4-3 after five innings but the Pointers scored four runs on three hits in the top of the sixth.
David VanVliet (Lowell, MI/Grand Rapids Christian) and
Nick Prebelski (Green Bay, WI/Notre Dame) combined to hold Anderson (32-13) to just one run in eight innings to make the 7-4 lead hold up.
With the win, UW-Stevens Point will take on second-seeded Webster at 7 p.m. tonight in its second game of the day. The Pointers and Gorlocks met in UWSP's first game of the season with Webster winning 3-2 in 11 innings. Webster is the only team yet to lose a game in the regional (2-0).
Trailing by a run in the sixth,
Cody Hanke (Marathon, WI/Marathon) led off the inning with a double to right, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored the game-tying run on a line-drive single by
Ray Greco (Downers Grove, IL/North) to left.
Later in the inning, UW-Stevens Point had runners on first and second with two outs when
Bobby Gregorich (Plover, WI/SPASH) delivered a clutch two-run double to deep right, scoring
Tyler Thomka (Muskego, WI/Muskego) and
Alex Tarras (Weston, WI/D.C. Everest). Gregorich's double was part of a 3-for-5 performance and the senior scored three of UWSP's seven runs.
Nick Prebelski (Green Bay, WI/Notre Dame) took care of the rest, holding the Ravens to four hits and a walk in 4.2 scoreless innings to earn his second win of the season. The senior struck out a career-high five hitters and has now allowed just six hits in 9.2 shutout innings at the regional.
Prebelski replaced
David VanVliet (Lowell, MI/Grand Rapids Christian), who allowed one run on three hits in 3.1 innings in relief of
Cole Erickson (Deerfield, WI/Deerfield). The stint was the second-longest of VanVliet's career.
UW-Stevens Point scored twice in the top of the first to take an early 2-0 lead. The Pointers scored on a run-scoring groundout by
Jimmy Coady (La Crosse, WI/Aquinas) and a wild pitch after
Riley Spetz (Sturgeon Bay, WI/Sevastopol) and Gregorich led off the game with consecutive singles. Spetz's single means the senior has reached base in 51 consecutive games.
Anderson came back with the game's next three runs to lead 3-2 after two. The Ravens scored on a fielder's choice in the first and a two-run double by Austin Young in the second. The double was one of three by Young in the game.
The Pointers tied the game in the third on an RBI single by
Kyle McHugh (Polonia, WI/Rosholt) before the Ravens went ahead 4-3 in the fifth on an RBI double by Cole Heberling. Heberling was 4-for-5 in the game for Anderson.
