It took 10 years, but UW-Stevens Point finally avenged the loss of its only previous second round appearance at the NCAA Division III World Series as the Pointers rallied past Carthage 12-8 on Saturday at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton.

UW-Stevens Point is now 2-0 at the World Series for the first time in school history and improved to 34-15 for the season. The Pointers face Kean (N.J.) on Sunday at 7 p.m. in a matchup of the lone remaining undefeated teams at the tournament. Carthage is now 37-12 and had its school record 20-game winning streak snapped.

The only other time UW-Stevens Point won its opening game at the World Series was in 1997 when they also faced Carthage in the second round and suffered a 12-1 loss. It marked the first time two Wisconsin teams have played each other in the World Series at Fox Cities Stadium and the first time the two in-state rivals have met within Wisconsin in their fourth all-time meeting.

“I told our guys that (Carthage) is a solid program that prides itself on getting to the World Series and that we would need our best game to beat them,” said Pointers' coach Pat Bloom, who played for Carthage's 1997 team before transferring to UW-Stevens Point. “We learned some lessons last year on what it takes to win here and are satisfied that we beat a good team and are 2-0.”

The night started as though Carthage might repeat that lopsided 1997 performance as the Red Men jumped on the Pointers with three runs in the first inning. Pointers' starter Garrett Nix (Osseo/Osseo-Fairchild) lasted two-thirds of an inning as the Red Men executed a two-out double steal for a run and then got run-scoring singles from Chris Sadjak and Mike Hughes.

UW-Stevens Point bounced right back in the top of the second as Justin Bushong (Rhinelander/Rhinelander) drove in two runs with two outs on a high chopper over the third baseman's head to cut the lead to 3-2, but Carthage added another run in the bottom of the inning on a two-out, run-scoring single from Steve Rucks for a 4-2 advantage.

The Pointers then took control with eight unanswered runs for a 10-4 lead after five and a half innings. Ryan Byrnes (Beaver Dam/Beaver Dam) hit a two-run double to tie the game in the fourth and scored on a two-out double by Joel Hojnacki (Plover/SPASH).

UW-Stevens Point added two more runs following an unusual play that began with a runner on first base and one out in the fifth. Brandon Scheidler (Chippewa Falls/McDonell) ripped a ball down the left field line that went out of play, causing the umpires to originally rule a ground rule double and keeping runners at second and third. However, after discussion, they ruled that the ball was pushed out of play by the leftfielder, advancing a run to score and Scheidler to third. Stewart Larsen (Sturgeon Bay/Sturgeon Bay) then reached on an error to drive Scheidler home from third.

The Pointers added three more runs in the sixth as Bushong scored on a passed ball and Brad Archambeau (Watertown/Watertown) and Jordan Zimmermann (Auburndale/Auburndale) delivered run-scoring singles to chase Red Men starter Jacob Husing, who allowed 10 hits and 10 runs over five and one-third innings.

“We had been getting all the breaks lately and you have to be lucky and get bounces when you win 20 in a row,” Carthage coach Augie Schmidt said. “You could feel the momentum shift as things started to go their way. I told my team after the game that the breaks had finally gone in another team's direction.”

Pointers' reliever Brandon Hemstead (DeForest/DeForest) kept Carthage quiet until the bottom of the sixth, but, trailing 10-4, Carthage rallied with three runs. Tyler Creekmore drove in a run on a double and Jose Alba followed with a run-scoring single. Baitinger added a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 10-7. The Red Men made it 10-8 off Pointers' reliever Matt Mehne (Amherst/Amherst) in the seventh when David Hermes led off with a single and scored on a fielder's choice.

It was the only hit Mehne would allow over three innings as he shut down the Red Men down the stretch for his sixth save. The Pointers added two key insurance runs in the top of the eighth with run-scoring singles from Tim Schlosser (Oconomowoc/Oconomowoc) and Adam Evanoff (Plover/SPASH).

“We've had a lot of games this year that we won that weren't pretty, as was the case tonight,” Bloom said. “We've had the habit of digging ourselves holes and making bad mistakes early. We've shown during our tourney run that we are a resilient group and we stayed confident tonight and got it done.”

Hemstead earned the win, working five and one-third innings and allowed six hits and four runs with four strikeouts. Bushong was three-for-five and Hojnacki had two doubles as all nine UW-Stevens Point hitters contributed on the Pointers' 13 hits.