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WISCONSIN RAPIDS – The 23rd-ranked UW-Stevens Point baseball team made a statement in its 2008 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament opener as it defeated No. 10-ranked UW-Oshkosh 10-0 in eight innings this afternoon at Witter Field in Wisconsin Rapids.

The Pointers improve to 26-14 overall and move on to face UW-Whitewater tonight at 7 p.m. The Titans drop to 28-8 overall and will face UW-La Crosse right away. The Pointers improve to 11-2 all-time at Witter Field in WIAC Tournament games. It was just the Titans' third loss in the last 23 games.

The Pointers threatened in the top of the first, but had a runner thrown out at the plate to end the inning. The Titans also posed a threat in the bottom of the frame as they had runners at second and third with two outs, but a soft groundout to second ended the inning.

Stevens Point got on the board in the top of the third when Doug Coe (Appleton/North) (Sr.-Appleton/North) hit a three-run home run to left field to make the score 3-0. Brandon Scheidler (Chippewa Falls/McDonell) (Sr.-Chippewa Falls/McDonell) then hit a leadoff home run in the fifth inning to extend the lead to 4-0. A batter later, Justin Bushong (Rhinelander/Rhinelander) (Sr.-Rhinelander) hit a solo shot to right field to make it 5-0.

Stevens Point continued to add to its lead in the sixth as Brad Archambeau (Watertown/Watertown) (So.-Watertown) hit a RBI single up the middle to score Eric Fritz (Custer/SPASH) (Fr.-Custer/SPASH) to make it 6-0. Later in the inning, Bushong hit a RBI double to center to make it 7-0 and Tim Schlosser (Oconomowoc/Oconomowoc) (Sr.-Oconomowoc) singled in a run to make it 8-0.

Justin Bushong (Rhinelander/Rhinelander) hit a leadoff home run in the eighth and Joel Hojnacki (Plover/SPASH) (Sr.-Plover/SPASH) had a RBI double to make it 10-0. That is where the game ended as Oshkosh went down in order in eighth.

Mike Thrun (Franklin/Franklin) (Sr.-Franklin) was dominant on the mound as he struck out four and allowed just five hits in eight innings of work to get the complete game shutout. Thrun allowed just one hit from the second through the sixth inning. Justin Bushong (Rhinelander/Rhinelander) was 4-for-5 with a pair of home runs and three RBIs to lead the Stevens Point offense.

Looking ahead to tonight's matchup, the Pointers went just 1-3 against the Warhawks last weekend. UW-Whitewater defeated La Crosse in the first contest of the day in a slugfest by a score of 12-9.