Game One Box
Game Two Box

PLATTEVILLE – The UW-Stevens Point baseball team split their final two games of the regular season on Sunday afternoon, dropping an error-filled game one 4-2 before holding off a late charge from UW-Platteville for the game two victory 3-2. The win gives the Pointers a share of the conference title with UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh.

The title is the first for the Pointers since 2002 and their eighth overall. This also marks the first shared title since UW-La Crosse, Whitewater and the Pointers shared the conference crown in 2000.

UW-Whitewater secured the tiebreaker and will host the conference tournament on May 8-9, 2009. The Pointers secured the No. 2 seed while UW-Oshkosh earned the third seed and UW-La Crosse rounds out the tournament field as the No. 4 seed.

The Pointers and Warhawks will square off on Friday at 1 p.m. in Whitewater.

In game one on Sunday, the Pioneers plated two runs before recording a hit, capitalizing on early Pointer errors. The Pioneers took a 3-0 lead in the sixth off a James Gallagher two-out single.

In the eighth, the Pointers scored their first run of the game, as Jared Surman (Kimberly) reached on a fielders choice, driving in Jeremy Richter (Rosholt).

In the ninth, it was Richter's turn to drive in a run, plating Cody Koback (Plover), but with runner on second and third, UW-Platteville's Wil Omanski ended the Pointer threat, picking up his first save of the season and securing the victory for the Pioneers.

Scott Williams (Baraboo) suffered his second loss of the season, pitching six innings of five-hit baseball, striking out five.

Game two remained scoreless until the Pointers half of the fifth, when three straight doubles by Eric Fritz (Custer), Kyle Cummings (Prentice) and Richter all collected hits to give the Pointers the 2-0 advantage.

After adding another run in the ninth, the Pointers held off a late charge by the Pioneers, who scored two runs in the final inning, and had runners on first and second before Jeff Zielke (Watertown) came on to collect his seventh save of the season.

Kyle Barry (Twin Lakes) earned the win, pitching 8.1 innings of two-hit baseball, striking out 10 while surrendering just three walks. Barry's no-hit bid lasted 4.1 innings.