UW-Stevens Point will meet UW-Platteville for a fourth time this season in the first round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference softball tournament, which begins Friday in Oshkosh. Pairings for the tournament are determined by a formula, combining division record, overall record and a coaches’ poll. The pairings were announced Tuesday night.

The Pointers are the fourth seed and will take on the fifth-seeded Pioneers Friday at 1 p.m. at Spanbauer Field. UW-Stevens Point lost the first meeting of the season to UW-Platteville 9-6, but won 10-2 in six innings and 4-3 in eight innings.

UW-Whitewater is the top seed and will meet either eighth-seeded UW-Oshkosh or ninth-seeded UW-Superior in the first round with the winner facing the Stevens Point-Platteville winner.

In the other half of the bracket, second-seeded UW-Eau Claire takes on seventh-seeded UW-Stout and third-seeded UW-La Crosse meets sixth-seeded UW-River Falls.

It promises to be a wild final weekend in the WIAC baseball season as seven of the eight teams still have a chance to qualify for the four-team tournament and five teams still have a chance to host the tournament, which will be held May 13 at the highest seed.

No team has clinched a spot in the field yet, including UW-Stevens Point, which has a "magic number" of four to claim a spot over UW-Stout. The Pointers need a combination of four wins or UW-Stout losses to beat out the Blue Devils for a berth in the tournament. UW-Stevens Point also needs only two wins or two UW-River Falls losses to keep the Falcons out of the field.

The simplest scenario for the Pointers to clinch would be a sweep of Saturday’s doubleheader at UW-Stout. However, UW-Stevens Point could clinch already on Friday if the Pointers sweep UW-Superior and UW-Oshkosh sweeps UW-Stout.

UW-Stevens Point is currently tied with UW-La Crosse for third place at 6-4. UW-Whitewater leads the league at 8-2 and UW-Oshkosh is 7-3. UW-Stout is still in the playoff picture at 5-5 and UW-River Falls is 4-6. UW-Platteville even has a mathematical chance at making the tournament with a 3-7 record. UW-Superior is the only team eliminated at 1-9.

For the first time in 17 years, WIAC outdoor track and field teams will travel to UW-Superior for the conference championships. The meet opens Friday at noon and continues Saturday, starting at 9 a.m.

UW-Stevens Point placed second in last year’s men’s competition and fifth in the women’s team standings. At this season’s indoor meet, the Pointers were third in the men’s standings and fourth in the women’s championships.

UW-Stevens Point has already had four automatic qualifiers and 13 provisional qualifiers for the Division III outdoor championships May 25-27 in Naperville, Ill. Automatic qualifiers on the men’s side include Chris Horvat in the 800 meters, Shane Suehring in the 3000 steeplechase and Dan Schwamberger in the 5000 meters. Leah Juno automatically qualified in the women’s 800.

Men’s provisional qualifiers include Craig Gunderson in the 400 meters, Schwamberger in the 1500, Jesse Drake in the 5000, Joel Schult and Jeremiah Rolfs in the discus and Mike Mead in the high jump. The 4x100 relay team of Gunderson, Shawn Hall, Eric Miller and Kyle Newman is a provisonal qualifer, along with the 4x400 relay team of Gunderson, Hall, Horvat and Miller.

After a 4-0 weekend in WIAC play, the UW-Stevens Point baseball team swept the league’s Player of the Week awards as Bill Verbrick was named the Pitcher of the Week and Kevin Fry was the league’s Position Player of the Week.

Verbrick, a sophomore from Appleton Xavier, struck out six in a 6-3 complete game victory over UW-Oshkosh. Verbrick allowed six hits and just two earned runs against the nation’s top hitting team for his fourth win of the season.

Fry, a freshman from Helenville, Wis. and a graduate of Lakeside Lutheran High School, hit .600 for week (nine-for-15). He had hits in eight consecutive at-bats, including two doubles in one inning against UW-Platteville as the Pointers scored 13 runs in the third inning of an 18-5 win. Fry also opened the Pointers’ seven-run seventh inning with a double in a 17-14 win over UW-Oshkosh.

UW-Stevens Point will meet Winona State in the second annual "Border Battle" at the Metrodome. The game will be Sat., Nov. 11 at 11:15 a.m., marking the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

The games feature seven WIAC teams against seven Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponents. Last season, the WIAC won four of the seven games over the Division II conference.

The Pointers won their game in last year’s event, beating Bemidji State 35-23. This season, UW-Stevens Point will also host Division II Northern State (S.D.) to open the season on Sept. 9 and host Division I-AA Drake on Sept. 16 in its other non-conference games. The Pointers enter the season having won 14 straight non-conference games, including 13 straight over non-Division III opponents.