UW-Stevens Point advanced to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Baseball Tournament Championship game for the second straight year with a 10-9 victory over UW-La Crosse Sunday afternoon at Witter Field in Wisconsin Rapids.

The Pointers (27-15) will face UW-Whitewater in the championship game for the second consecutive season. UW-L finishes its season 22-19.

UW-Stevens Point raced out to leads of 5-1, 8-4 and 10-4 before UW-L came back to make it 10-8 with four runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Eagles scored once in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to 10-9 on John Stetzenbach's two-out single scoring Trevor Wallace. Tony Peterson then flied out to second with two runners on to end the inning.

Justin Bach, a Wisconsin Rapids native, singled with one-out in the bottom of the ninth for UW-L before being replaced by pinch-runner Matt Kitzke. After a pop-out, Dusty Otto singled to right field with two outs to move Kitzke to second. Jeff Zielke then struck out Wallace to end the game.

Scoring four runs in the third, highlighted by Nat Richter's two-run home run, the Pointers led 5-1 going into the bottom of the third. The Eagles cut the deficit to 5-4 with three runs in the bottom of the inning on Steve Ems' three-run home run.

Jake Frombach had a two-run single in the fourth for UW-Stevens Point.

The teams combined for 19 runs, 29 hits and nine errors. Frombach, Richter, Ryan Byrnes and Ben Warwick each had three hits for UW-Stevens Point. Richter finished with three RBI.

Bach was 3-for-5 with a run scored for UW-L while Mike Schmidt, Otto and Wallace had two hits for the Eagles. Ems had three RBI with Stetzenbach and Wallace each having two.

Ryan Hopkins (4-1) earned the win, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing seven hits, six runs (five earned) with two strikeouts. Zielke picked up his fourth save of the season, pitching 1.1, allowing two hits with one strikeout. Matt Zurbriggen (6-4) suffered the loss, going 2.1 innings, allowing six hits and five runs (three earned). Derrick Minnig went 3.2, allowing eight hits, five runs and one walk with one strikeout. Jake Beitlich pitched 3.0 innings for the Eagles, allowing two hits and one walk with two strikeouts.