STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point baseball team (14-9, 5-5) scored 10 runs in each game in a split with visiting No. 12 UW-Whitewater (16-5, 7-3) on Friday. UWSP won game one, 10-8, before falling just short in an 11-10 defeat in game two.
 
UWSP belted four home runs on the day. Trent Van Ess (Two Rivers, Wis./Two Rivers), Anthony Tomczak (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) and Logan Matson (Neillsville, Wis./Neillsville) all went deep in game one with Payton Nelson (Wausau, Wis./West) hitting one in game two.
 
Nelson drove in five runs, all in game two. He scored three times on the day. Brenden Canterbury (Waupaca, Wis./Waupaca) had four RBI, two in each game.
 
Game 1 – UWSP 10, UWW 8
UWSP trailed in the second inning after the Warhawks pushed across an unearned run without a hit.
 
In the third inning, Matson led off with a single. After a pair of wild pitches moved him to third, Van Ess homered to left to give the Pointers a 2-1 lead. Two batters later, Bradley Comer (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) singled and moved to second on an error. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sac fly by Canterbury for a 3-1 lead.
 
Jakob Boos (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) singled to begin the fourth. An error and a wild pitch allowed him to reach third. Matson hit a sac fly to make it 4-1.
 
Comer singled to start the fifth. Tomczak followed with a two-run home run to push the lead to 6-2.
 
Matson launched a one-out solo home run in the sixth as UWSP went up 7-2. UWW put up four unearned runs in the eighth to get within 7-6.
 
The Pointers got three unearned runs back in the bottom of the eighth with Quin Henwood (Appleton, Wis./North), Nelson and Comer scoring in the frame.
 
UWW scored twice in the ninth as UWSP held on for the 10-8 win.
 
Casey Pickering (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) picked up the win going 7.0 frames. He struck out four and didn't allow a hit until the fifth. Sidney Ferry (Paw Paw, Mich./Homeschooled) had two strikeouts in the ninth.
 
Game 2 – UWSP 10, UWW 11
The Warhawks pushed across five runs in the top of the first on four hits.
 
UWSP was undeterred, bouncing back for nine runs in the bottom of the first with 13 batters coming to the plate. Boos led off with a single and Nelson blasted a two-run home run. Canterbury drove in two with a single to get UWSP within 5-4. Kyle Finger (Clintonville, Wis./Clintonville) picked up an RBI after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Boos was also hit by a pitch with the bases juiced to give UWSP a 6-5 lead. Nelson then cleared the bases with a double for the 9-5 advantage after one.
 
UWW got two runs back in the third on four hits.
 
Nelson reached on an error to start the sixth and moved to second on the play. Comer followed with an RBI double to give UWSP a 10-7 lead.
 
The Warhawks scored four runs in the seventh on four hits and an error.
 
Canterbury singled with two outs in the ninth. Logan Homolka (Marshfield, Wis./Marshfield) drew a walk to get the winning run aboard. Pinch hitter Kamden Oliver (Viroqua, Wis./Viroqua) ripped a shot towards the right side of the infield, but the line drive hit Homolka ending the game.
 
Mason Weckler (Belvidere, Ill./North) struck out three in the start. Nathan Krommenakker (Rudolph, Wis./Lincoln) and Austin Syvertson (Randolph, Wis./Randolph) each had one strikeout. Mitchell Crawley (Wind Lake, WIs./Muskego) fanned four in 2.0 innings of relief.
 
The Pointers and Warhawks conclude the season series on Saturday (April 15) with a doubleheader beginning at 10:00 a.m. at Zimmermann Field.