APPLETON, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point baseball team surrendered a late 3-0 lead and suffered its first loss of the NCAA Division III 2013 World Series to Linfield College, 5-3.

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The Pointers will play the University of Southern Maine on Monday, May 27 at 12 p.m.

UWSP grabbed an early 1-0 lead when Dan Douglas (East Troy, WI/East Troy), the Pointers' all-time career leader in hits, led off the top of the first inning with a single and moved into scoring position on a single by Ryan Schilter (West Bend, WI/West).

Jimmy Coady (La Crosse, WI/Aquinas) lifted a fly ball to left field as Douglas tagged up and scored on a close play at the plate.  

UWSP added to its lead in the seventh inning when Bobby Gregorich (Plover, WI/SPASH) led off with a single up the middle and Brandon Kranz (Waukesha, WI/West) followed with a pinch-hit single of his own.

Clint Rose (Watertown, WI/Watertown) laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners, and Douglas' second hit of the night scored Gregorich.

Schilter hit a sac fly to center field to plate Kranz and put the Pointers up 3-0.

The Wildcats, ranked No. 1 by D3baseball.com, scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to cut the Pointer lead to 3-2.

An RBI triple by Tim Wilson tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Jake Wylie hit a sac fly to score Wylie and give the Wildcats the lead for good.

UWSP freshman starting pitcher Ben Messenger (Green Bay, WI/Bay Port) allowed only four hits and three earned runs through seven innings.