Just one win away from its first NCAA Division III baseball championship game, UW-Stevens Point remains in that position after falling to Kean (N.J.) 7-4 on Sunday at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton.

Kean is 42-8 and advanced to the title game in its first World Series appearance, while UW-Stevens Point is 34-16 and will need to defeat either Emory (Ga.) or Cortland State (N.Y.) on Monday to earn a rematch with the Cougars. Emory and Cortland State meet at noon with the winner to face UW-Stevens Point at 3:30 p.m. If the Pointers win, they need to beat Kean twice on Tuesday for their first national championship.

“All that's in front of us right now is winning tomorrow,” said UW-Stevens Point coach Pat Bloom, whose team had won 13 of its previous 14 games. “I'm not worrying about Tuesday.”

UW-Stevens Point is in a seemingly comfortable position as the Pointers have won 17 of their last 19 games when facing elimination, including three in last week's regional.

Kean used a methodical approach with runs in five different innings and four runs scoring on outs. The Cougars also got a strong pitching performance from sophomore Colin Feineis, who worked seven innings and allowed six hits and one earned run with seven strikeouts. Brandon Aich pitched the final two innings and allowed no hits or runs for his fourth save.

“Kean's a good team,” Bloom said. “They put a lot of pressure on our defense. I've got to give them a lot of credit.”

UW-Stevens Point jumped out to a quick lead in the top of the first inning when Tim Schlosser (Oconomowoc/Oconomowoc) reached on an error and scored on a double by Jordan Zimmermann (Auburndale/Auburndale). However, Kean also took advantage of an error in the bottom of the inning and scored an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Derek Gianakas.

The Cougars took the lead in the third on a run-scoring groundout by Mark Mattonelli before the Pointers tied the game in the fourth when Zimmermann scored on a double play groundout. Kean produced another run in the fourth on a groundout by Ryan Clark to take the lead for good at 3-2.

Kean got two runs after two outs in the sixth as Clark and Mikael De La Rosa both had run-scoring singles for a 5-2 advantage. Mike Thrun (Franklin/Franklin) pitched the first six innings for the Pointers and allowed nine hits while striking out three.

UW-Stevens Point's first three batters reached in the top of the seventh and got runs on a run-scoring single by Ryan Byrnes (Beaver Dam/Beaver Dam) and a sacrifice fly by Joel Hojnacki (Plover/SPASH). However, the Pointers left a runner on third base to end the inning and keep the Cougars' lead at 5-4.

“Their pitchers did a great job tonight,” Byrnes said. “Our hitters battled, but we didn't get the key hits when we needed them.”

Kean responded in the bottom of the seventh with two runs as Gianakas and Aaron Richard opened the inning with singles of Pointers' reliever Travis Kempf (Kewaskum/Kewaskum) and both scored. Clark had a run-scoring fielder's choice and Kevin O'Neill drove in a run on a two-out single for a 7-4 cushion.

“When we put a number on the board our pitcher needs to come in and throw up a zero,” Bloom said. “You've got to play your best game in a winner's bracket situation and we didn't do that tonight.”

Clark drove in three runs, while O'Neill was three-for-four in the bottom two spots in the order for the Cougars. Byrnes was two-for-four to lead UW-Stevens Point.