Jordan Zimmermann (Auburndale/Auburndale) and UW-Stevens Point had been in this situation before and looked like seasoned postseason veterans as the Pointers rolled to a 6-0 victory over UW-Oshkosh to earn their second straight NCAA Division III regional championship on Saturday in Wisconsin Rapids.

Zimmermann pitched six and one-third innings, allowing two hits and no runs, while also going three-for-five at the plate with two runs batted in to earn his second straight tournament Most Valuable Player award. Zimmermann, pitching on two day's rest, did the same in last year's title game and had 15 strikeouts to beat Ripon. He had 10 strikeouts and no walks against UW-Oshkosh to finish the tournament with 21 strikeouts and no walks in 14 and one-third innings, while improving to 9-0 for the season.

The win puts the Pointers back at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton for Division III World Series where they will face Ferrum (Va.) or Emory (Ga.) in an opening round game at 10 a.m. on Friday. UW-Stevens Point is now 32-15 overall and defeated UW-Oshkosh for the second straight weekend after handing the Titans a 9-2 setback in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament finals at the same field. The Pointers won four of six meetings this year between the league rivals.

Zimmermann was the story of the day, striking out all three batters in the first inning and seven of the Titans' first 10 batters of the game. He also knocked in the game's first run with a two-out single to left that scored Brad Archambeau (Watertown/Watertown).

“Jordan is exactly what you look for from an upper-echelon athlete,” said Pointers' coach Pat Bloom of his junior, who has 64 strikeouts and eight walks while allowing only 25 hits in 48 and one-third career NCAA tournament innings. “Big-time players perform at their best in the postseason and that's exactly what Jordan has done. Even better is that as good of a player he is, he's just as good of a character person off the field.”

UW-Oshkosh had both of its hits off Zimmermann in the second inning, but he got a popup to the pitcher to end the inning. The Titans had a chance to score in the fifth when Ryan Demmin was hit by a pitch and reached third base with two outs, however, Zimmermann got a fly out to keep the 1-0 lead.

UW-Stevens Point added to its lead in the sixth when Brandon Scheidler (Chippewa Falls/McDonell) and Stewart Larsen (Sturgeon Bay/Sturgeon Bay) singled to chase reliever Jeremy Rubens, who pitched three and one-third innings in relief of starter Adam Bretl. Brad Bolton entered in relief for the Titans and Ryan Byrnes (Beaver Dam/Beaver Dam) blasted his first pitch deep to left center field for a three-run homer. The Pointers tallied another run in the inning on a run-scoring single by Tim Schlosser (Oconomowoc/Oconomowoc) after a two-out error.

Zimmermann hit the first batter in the seventh and then got a fielder's choice groundout before leaving to a large ovation from the crowd of 679 fans. Mike Thrun (Franklin/Franklin), who beat the Titans in last week's conference final, came on in relief and got a strikeout and popout to end the inning. Thrun, who gave up seven runs in less than two innings in the Pointers' miracle comeback win over Ripon on Friday, retired eight of the nine UW-Oshkosh batters he faced with four strikeouts.

Zimmermann added a run-scoring single in the eighth as the Pointers outhit the Titans 15-3 for the game. Larsen was three-for-four and was 10-for-16 in the regional to land all-tournament honors. The Pointers had six players with at least two hits.