UW-Stevens Point is back in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament championship game, but not without plenty of anxious moments and missed opportunities.

The Pointers left a total of 27 runners on base in their two games, but still managed a 5-4 first round win over UW-Whitewater and a 7-5 second round triumph over UW-Stout. UW-Stevens Point is now 27-14 overall and will go for its third straight WIAC tournament title and automatic berth to the NCAA Division III tournament on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Witter Field in Wisconsin Rapids. UW-Stout and UW-Oshkosh meet at noon to determine the Pointers' opponent. The winner will need beat the Pointers twice for the title.

UW-Stevens Point's Jordan Zimmermann (Auburndale/Auburndale) pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts to improve to 7-0 and drove in two runs in the opening game. He also had the go-ahead hit in the second game as the Pointers rallied from a 5-1 deficit.

In the opener, The Pointers scored when Ryan Byrnes (Beaver Dam/Beaver Dam) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the first inning and when Zimmermann scored on a double play in the fourth. UW-Whitewater trimmed the lead to 2-1 in the sixth, but Zimmermann added a two-run single in the seventh for a 4-1 Pointers' lead.

The Warhawks rallied with a three-run eighth as Billy Johnson tied the game with a run-scoring double, however, Adam Evanoff (Plover/SPASH) delivered a two-out solo home run in the eighth for his fourth hit of the game to put the Pointers back ahead. UW-Whitewater had two runners reach in the ninth, but Jeff Donovan, who homered with two outs in the ninth to beat the Pointers in the regular season, flew out to the warning track in centerfield to end the game.

UW-Stevens Point fell behind UW-Stout as the Pointers left the bases loaded each of the first three innings. The Blue Devils took a 3-1 lead in the third on a home run by Erik Johnson and went ahead 5-1 with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings.

The Pointers began their rally in the sixth as Brad Archambeau (Watertown/Watertown) had a run-scoring single and Joel Hojnacki (Plover/SPASH) scored on a wild pitch. Hojnacki pulled the Pointers within 5-4 in the seventh, driving in another run on a fielder's choice.

UW-Stevens Point took the lead in the eighth as Archambeau doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring when Brandon Scheidler (Chippewa Falls/McDonell) reached out to poke a two-strike pitch through a drawn-in infield and tie the game. Scheidler scored when Zimmermann blasted a double deep to right center field and a double by Stewart Larsen (Sturgeon Bay/Sturgeon Bay) plated Zimmermann with an insurance run.

The Pointers struck out 16 times in the game as UW-Stout started Dan Olson whiffed 11 over the first five and one-third innings.

Brandon Hemstead (DeForest/DeForest) worked the first six innings for the Pointers, striking out six batters and Matt Mehne (Amherst/Amherst) earned the victory with three scoreless innings and two hits allowed.