Game One Box
Game Two Box

SUPERIOR – The UW-Stevens Point baseball team finished what was supposed to be a weekend series with the Yellowjackets of UW-Superior on Monday afternoon, splitting the day's twin bill, taking game one 9-5 before dropping game two 5-2.

The split gives the Pointers three out of four in the season series with the Yellowjackets.

Game one began on Sunday afternoon but was halted with the score tied 3-3 after three innings due to rain. The game restarted on Monday afternoon with Superior jumping on top 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth, getting one run on a bases-loaded walk and another on a Rhett Williamson single.

The Pointers answered in the sixth, as Cody Koback (Plover) led off the inning with a solo home run and Eric Fritz (Custer) scored from second on an error by the Yellowjacket's second baseman, again knotting the score 5-5.

In the seventh, a Jared Surman (Kimberly) single scored Jeremy Richter (Rosholt), giving the Pointers the 6-5 edge. In the eighth, the Pointers Richter's hot bat stung the Yellowjackets again, just as it had done on Saturday, as he sent a Tim Bouvine pitch over the outfield fence, a three-run shot that gave Stevens Point a four run edge.

Joel Delorit (Sturgeon Bay) came in to pitch game one's final six innings, striking out 10 while allowing just two runs and picking up the win. Garrett Nix (Osseo) opened the game on Sunday, going three innings. He recorded six strikeouts while walking one.

At the plate, Fritz finished the game 3-for-5 with a run scored while Kyle Cummings (Prentice), Richter, Surman and Koback all collected two hits. Richter also finished with three RBIs.

Game two was a different story for the Pointers, as the bats fell suddenly silent. After taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, the Pointers collected just four more hits the rest of the way. The Yellowjackets touched up Stevens Point starter Eric Van Beck (Hartland) for three runs and six hits in four innings of work, handing him the loss.

After two scoreless innings by Koback, Superior again plated two runs, both earned, off reliever Tyler Lorenz (Pembine/Pembine-Goodman) to take a 5-2 edge after seven. From there, Superior reliever Mike Doescher came in, allowing just one hit in 2.1 innings of work, striking out two Pointers for the save.

Cummings was the lone Pointer in game two to collect multiple hits while Ryan Iverson (Eau Claire) and Kevin Thomas (Oshkosh) each drove in a run.

The Pointers (23-11, 11-7 WIAC) now fall a game back of the league-leading Titans of UW-Oshkosh ahead of Wednesday's showdown at University Field. The Titans hold a half-game edge on preseason favorite UW-Whitewater, who split with UW-Stout Monday afternoon.

Wednesday's doubleheader with the Titans is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.