The
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) baseball team (23-18, 11-9) had its
season come to a close with an 8-5 loss to UW-La Crosse in the Wisconsin
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament at Whitewater Saturday,
May 13.

The
third-seeded Pointers opened with a 3-0 loss to second-seeded La Crosse Friday,
May 12, as the UWSP offense was limited to four hits by La Crosse senior
pitcher and D3baseball.com Preseason First Team All-American Caleb Boushley. Senior
pitcher and former Pacelli High School standout Derek Kawlewski took the loss
on the mound for the Pointers after he allowed two earned runs on four hits,
struck out five and walked two over eight innings.

In
elimination game Friday night, UWSP trailed 4-1 against UW-Oshkosh (22-20,
11-9) heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, when the Pointers rallied
for six runs to pull out a 7-4 win.

With
a spot in the Championship Game on the line Saturday morning, La Crosse scored
five runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 5-0 lead on UWSP. The
Pointers scored a run in the top of the seventh to pull within 8-5, but had
rallies in the eighth and ninth innings come up short to end their season with
an 8-5 loss.

La
Crosse won 9-8 over third-ranked and top-seeded UW-Whitewater (35-7) in the
first Championship Game before it fell 8-3 in the second Championship Game, while
La Crosse still received an at-large berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The
Pointers tied for second in the WIAC with La Crosse and Oshkosh during the
regular season, while junior pitcher Cole Erickson of Deerfield and sophomore
catcher Kyle Mrozinski of Ashwaubenon were named First Team All-WIAC selections
this season, and Kawlewski and senior outfielder Ben Gerber of Stoughton were
Honorable Mention All-WIAC.