Box Score

WHITEWATER – The UW-Stevens Point baseball team stayed alive on Friday afternoon, overcoming a 7-5 deficit in the final two innings to defeat UW-Whitewater 12-8 and advance to Saturday's Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) baseball championship game.

The Pointers (28-13) will face the winner of the UW-Oshkosh/UW-Whitewater game that takes place Friday afternoon. UW-Oshkosh won their opening round game against UW-La Crosse 8-7 in the tournament's first game.

The second-seeded Pointers jumped out to the early lead against the Warhawks on Friday, taking a 5-0 lead into the second inning, thanks to a Sam Spurney (Manitowoc) RBI single in the first inning and a Jared Surman (Kimberly) three RBI double in the fourth.

Top-seeded Whitewater plated two runs in their half of the third and tied the game in the home half of the fifth, when Ben Kuhlmann connected on a three-run home run off Pointer starter Scott Williams (Baraboo).

Whitewater took their first lead of the game in the sixth, when Tony Wong and Cory Trepanier hit back-to-back homers off reliever Jeff Zielke (Watertown), giving the Warhakws the 7-5 advantage.

The Pointers retook the lead in the eighth, going ahead 10-7 when five pointer runs crossed the plate thanks to timely hits by Brad Archambeau (Watertown), Cody Koback (Plover), Jordan Rennicke (Mequon) and Kevin Thomas (Oshkosh/Oshkosh West).

Whitewater plated a run in the bottom of the eighth, but two more runs in the top of the ninth for the Pointers, both driven in by a Surman double, gave the Pointers the 12-8 victory.

Pointer starter Scott Williams (Baraboo/Baraboo) went 4.2 innings, allowing five runs, four earned, on just two hits, walking four and recording seven strikeouts. Tyler Lorenz (Pembine), who relieved Zielke in the seventh, picked up the win, his fifth of the season, throwing one scoreless inning. Kyle Barry (Twin Lakes) pitched the final two innings, earning his first save of the season. He allowed four hits and one run, striking out two.

Surman finished the day 3-for-4 with five RBIs and scored two runs while Jeremy Richter (Rosholt) finished 3-for-6 with three runs scored.

UW-Whitewater's Aaron Dott took the loss, his fifth of the season, allowing eight runs, all earned, in 7.2 innings for the Warhakws, walking eight and striking out seven.