Sophomore Garrett Nix (Osseo/Osseo-Fairchild) matched a career high with nine strikeouts and allowed just three hits over eight innings to pitch UW-Stevens Point into the NCAA Division III regional championship game with a 6-3 win over St. Thomas on Friday in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.

Nix struck out his nine batters in seven different innings and allowed one run, which was unearned. The victory was the Pointers' third in as many meetings against St. Thomas this seasin and marked their fourth straight NCAA tournament victory over the Tommies. St. Thomas is now 34-11 and plays UW-Oshkosh at noon on Saturday with the winner to play UW-Stevens Point for the regional title at 3:30 p.m. The Pointers are 31-15 overall and in the regional finals for the fourth time in six years.

The Pointers, who scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth to pull out a dramatic 11-10 win over Ripon earlier in the day, carried their momentum into the top of the first inning against St. Thomas as Brad Archambeau (Watertown/Watertown) led off with a walk and Tim Schlosser (Oconomowoc/Oconomowoc) doubled. Both scored on groundouts as the Pointers took an early 2-0 lead.

UW-Stevens Point added single runs in each of the next three innings as Justin Bushong (Rhinelander/Rhinelander) had a run-scoring double in the second, Jordan Zimmermann (Auburndale/Auburndale) led off the third with a home run and Schlosser scored on a two-out throwing error in the fourth for a 5-0 advantage.

Meanwhile, Nix retired the first seven batters faced and ran into trouble in only one inning when the Tommies tallied an unearned run in the fifth. After a two-out error put two runners on base, Nix hit batters on consecutive pitches with Matt Olson driving in a run. He then struck out Chris Bullis looking with an inside fastball on a 3-2 pitch to escape the jam.

Tommies' reliever Will Montgomery shut down the Pointers the rest of the way, allowing just four hits and one earned run over seven innings in relief of Lonnie Robinson. Brad Archambeau (Watertown/Watertown), who finished two-for-five, drove in a run for the Pointers with a single in the eighth to give UW-Stevens Point a 6-1 lead.

St. Thomas mounted a rally against Pointers' closer Matt Mehne (Amherst/Amherst) in the ninth, getting singles from Tom Wippler and Mark Boland to start the inning. Pinch-hitter Bobby Gregoire had a run-scoring single and another run scored following a two-out error to bring the tying run to the plate, but Mehne retired Bullis on a groundout to end the game.

Zimmermann was two-for-five for the Pointers, who totaled eight hits. Wippler was two-for-four for the Tommies.