The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point baseball team ended its regular season play winning one game and falling to the Eagles in the second.
The Pointers took game one of the Senior Day series, 9-2, over No. 4 UW-La Crosse.
Although the Eagles took the early 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Pointers stuck back with multiple home runs in the following innings.
Sophomore Turner Doornink gave the Pointers a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first after he homered to left field, scoring senior Cody Hanke, freshman Ben Diedrick and himself.
In the third inning, UW-La Crosse’s Justin Anderson knocked in a run to put the Eagles within one run.
Hanke boosted the score in the fourth inning with a grand slam, giving UWSP a 7-2 lead.
The Pointers scored two additional insurance runs in the seventh inning with an RBI single from senior Peter Strommen and Hanke scoring on a wild pitch for the eventual 9-2 victory over the Eagles.
Hanke recorded a game-high four RBI with three runs and one hit. Junior Thomas Thomka tallied two hits and one run, while Doornink and Strommen had one hit apiece.
Sophomore Cole Erickson earned the win on the mound having pitched all nine innings for just seven hits, six strikeouts and two runs.
Game two of the afternoon went in favor of the Eagles, as UWSP fell 11-6 to UW-La Crosse.
After a scoreless first inning, the Eagles were again the first to get a run on the scoreboard and then some.
UW-La Crosse scored seven runs in the second inning, which included a home run from Taylor Kowhlwey.
Down by seven runs, freshman William Iloncaie and Thomka scored off of a single from sophomore Ray Greco in the fifth inning to give the Pointers three runs to the Eagles eight.
Greco stuck again, this time with a two-run home run in the seventh inning to make the score 9-5 in favor of UW-La Crosse.
Strommen put the Pointers within four runs in the eighth inning after he hit a solo home run.
UW-La Crosse’s Alex Brown hit a home run and cemented the Eagles 11-6 victory.
Greco’s four RBI, two hits and one run led the Pointers batting efforts in the game.
Doornink and Strommen contributed three hits each for the team total, while Diedrick and Thomka had two apiece.
On Alumni Day the previous afternoon, UWSP dropped both games to the Eagles.
In game one, the Pointers were defeated 8-4 against the Eagles, who scored six of their eight runs in the seventh inning and UWSP fell in game two 7-6 in extra innings.
With a 10-10 record in the WIAC and 21-19 overall record, the Pointers have advanced to the WIAC Tournament.
UWSP will begin tournament play on May 13 in La Crosse.
Opponent and game times are to be announced, with the winner of the tournament earning an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championship.
Flynn and Williams Claim Individual Title Wins at WIAC Championships
The Pointer track and field teams were well represented at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships with event title wins from senior thrower Kadie Flynn and junior jumper Jerry Williams.
Flynn’s winning mark was a 158-foot, three-inch throw (48.24 meters) in the women’s discus, almost 10 feet further than UW-Eau Claire’s Sam Anderson, who was runner-up in the event with a throw of 149-feet, six inches.
She also earned two top-five finishes in the hammer throw and shot put.
Flynn placed third overall in the hammer throw with a toss of 54.39 meters and recorded a fourth place finish in the shot put with her top toss of 12.98 meters.
Going into the WIAC meet, Williams had previously recorded the best triple jump mark in the conference, and he backed up his season placement with the top jump of 14.36 meters.
Sophomore Darin Ward’s jump of 14.12 meters earned him a third place finish in the triple jump.
Williams was also one of five Pointers to place within the top six in the men’s long jump. His 7.09-meter jump was good for a second place finish.
In addition to Williams, UWSP athletes claimed third through sixth place finishes.
Freshman James Mackenzie finished in third with a top mark of 6.96 meters. Senior Jordan Richards placed fourth with a jump of 6.95 meters. Ward tallied a jump of 6.91 meters and finished fifth overall, while senior Alec Dix rounded out the UWSP jumpers with a jump of 6.86 meters to place sixth.
On the track, Ward finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.55 seconds.
The men’s 4×400-meter relay team made up of senior Alec Oestreich, freshmen Dylan McGuire and Collin Meyer and junior Takuto Kobayashi crossed the line in 3:17.74 for a third place finish in the event.
Sophomore Logan Heil was fifth overall in the in the hammer throw with a toss of 52.60 meters and sophomore Tylar Kohnke also took home a fifth place, but in the javelin with a throw of 51.57 meters.
Freshman Jeremy Lee tallied a total of 6,170 points and finished third in the decathlon. Senior Albert Unruh was fifth with 5,786 total points and freshman Matthew Miller placed ninth with 5,042 points.
The Pointer men totaled 80 points and placed fifth out of eight teams. UW-La Crosse won its 26th consecutive and 52nd WIAC team title in program history with 201 points.
On the women’s side of the track, sophomore Leah Trempe placed third in the 400-meter dash in 57.70 seconds. Junior Kathy Derks also finished third overall, but in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:15.01.
Senior Holly Winberg was runner-up in the 5,000-meter run after she crossed the line in 17:48.98. She also placed second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:26.36.
The women’s 4×400-meter relay team—made up of freshman Hannah Mertens, junior Jacklyn Butler, Derks and Trempe—placed second with a time of 3:52.17.
In the field, senior Shannon Burke was UWSP’s top performer in the pole vault, where she placed third overall, where she cleared a mark of 3.67 meters.
The women’s team totaled a combined 85 points to place sixth. UW-La Crosse won the WIAC title with 238 total points—its fifth straight conference title and 31st title win in program history.
The Pointer track and field teams will be back in action at the UW-La Crosse regional qualifying meet on May 13 in La Crosse.
Softball Sweeps Wisconsin Lutheran in Final Season Series
In their final two games of the 2016 season, the UWSP softball team swept Wisconsin Lutheran in a nonconference doubleheader.
The Pointers shutout Wisconsin Lutheran 8-0 in six innings in game one, with freshman Maddie Durie pitching a complete game, drawing the Warriors to just two hits.
Senior Bailie Sheahan and freshman Alyssa Cooper scored two unanswered runs for the Pointers in the first inning and continued with this momentum for the rest of the game.
Sophomore Katie Uhlenbrauck, freshman Paige Kitzing hit singles in the third inning to score two more runs and a double from sophomore Paige Allen made UWSP’s scoring advantage 6-0 after the third.
In the fifth inning, Kitzing hit a solo home run, increasing the Pointer lead by seven unanswered runs.
A single from Cooper in the sixth inning cemented UWSP’s 8-0 shutout game over the Warriors.
Kitzing led UWSP’s batting efforts with two runs, two hits and two RBI, while Sheahan contributed three runs and two hits.
Freshman Dana Gertschen, Allen and Copper each had two hits for the Pointers.
Durie earned her sixth win of the year on the mound with five strikeouts.
The Pointers totaled seven hits to the Warriors three and held Wisconsin Lutheran to one run in their second victory of the day.
Both teams went scoreless for two innings, until the Pointers were up to bat in the third inning.
Freshman Jen Jacobson doubled to left field and scored freshman Kristen Perkinson to give the Pointers the early 1-0 advantage. Jacobson then scored an unearned run off of a Warrior error later on in the same inning.
Wisconsin Lutheran scored its only run when Sydney Horton reached first on Pointer error and scored Libby Schellpfeffer.
In the fourth inning, Perkinson singled off of a bunt and Sheahan scored UWSP’s final run of the game, giving the Pointers the 3-1 win in their final outing of the season.
Perkinson went 2-for-3 in the game with one run and one RBI.
Junior Cori Semler, sophomore Cassidy Winter, senior Jodi Vanderford, sophomore Sydney Opdahl and Jacobson tallied one hit each for the team.
Freshman Amelia Heup earned her third win of the season having pitched four innings for one strikeout and one hit.
Sophomore Averi Kanyuh pitched three innings of relief, which resulted in four strikeouts and two hits.
The Pointers concluded their season with a 14-22 overall record and finished seventh out of eight teams in the WIAC with a 3-10 conference record.
Kylie Bridenhagen
Sports Editor
kbrid305@uwsp.edu