A dream postseason run had a nightmare ending for the UW-Stevens Point baseball team as the Pointers had their season end at the NCAA Division III World Series with an 18-7 loss to Emory (Ga.) on Monday in Appleton.

The Pointers led 6-0 after four innings before Emory exploded for seven runs in the fifth and 10 more in the sixth. The Eagles are 43-9 and advance to face Kean (N.J.) in the national championship game at noon on Tuesday. UW-Stevens Point's third place finish was its best in school history as the Pointers finished 34-17 overall.

“I'm proud of what these guys have done to get this program to a championship-caliber level,” Pointers' coach Pat Bloom said. “It's a frustrating day, but I'm proud of what we accomplished.”

Early on it appeared the Pointers would be on the other end of a blowout, sending Emory starter Adam Genn out of the game after just three batters. Brad Archambeau (Watertown/Watertown) had a leadoff walk, Tim Schlosser (Oconomowoc/Oconomowoc) tripled and Jordan Zimmermann (Auburndale/Auburndale) blasted a two-run homer to left center for a 3-0 lead. Emory reliever Julian Smith entered the game and put three runners on base, but the Pointers left the bases loaded in the first inning.

“For them to only get three runs in the first inning was a big, big part of our comeback,” Emory coach Mike Twardowski said. “It was a big part of the game and Julian came up clutch.”

Zimmermann, who was three-for-three and eight-for-13 in the tournament, also hit a solo home run in the second inning for a 4-0 lead. It was a stellar performance in what may have been the final collegiate game for the Pointers' junior, who is a projected high pick in the upcoming June draft.

The Pointers extended the lead to 6-0 in the fourth when Schlosser had a run-scoring groundout and Adam Evanoff (Plover/SPASH) hit a sacrifice fly. Meanwhile, UW-Stevens Point starter Garrett Nix (Osseo/Osseo-Fairchild) was cruising through the first four innings, allowing two hits and striking out four batters. In fact, Emory had no runs and just three hits in its first 13 innings against UW-Stevens Point pitching after Zimmermann threw a one-hit shutout in a 2-0 opening round victory on Friday.

However, the roof caved in the fifth when the first four Emory batters reached base. Jeff Zielke (Watertown/Watertown) came on in relief and struck out the first batter, but five of the next six batters reached as the Eagles scored seven runs on five hits in the inning. It got worse for the Pointers in the sixth when Emory's first four batters reached and the Eagles eventually plated 10 runs on just four hits and four walks against three UW-Stevens Point pitchers.

Emory scored its 17 runs in the fifth and sixth innings with the aid of just seven hits. For the game, each team had 14 hits, but the Eagles benefited from eight walks, four hit batters and three errors, while the Pointers left 13 runners on base. The lopsided loss was unusual for the Pointers, whose last 41 losses were all by five runs or less.

“We had a great chance early in the game to put them away and didn't do it,” Bloom said. “I'm not one to make excuses, but you saw a team that was emotionally and physically exhausted. That fatigue showed through in the way we played today.”

UW-Stevens Point loaded the bases with one out in the seventh and scored a run on a bases loaded walk by Stewart Larsen (Sturgeon Bay/Sturgeon Bay), but Emory reliever Will Gumm, who was the game's winning pitcher, got the final two batters to hold the Eagles' lead at 17-7 after seven innings. Joe Roth led off the seventh inning with a home run for Emory's last run.

Zielke took the loss for the Pointers, who used six pitchers and got two scoreless innings from closer Matt Mehne (Amherst/Amherst) to end the game. Dan Molnar had two doubles and drove in three runs for the Eagles, while Tyler Short was three-for-four with two RBI's.