NCAA Division III Baseball Regional Preview �

Tiedemann Field � Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Thursday-Sunday, May 16-19, 2002

Weekend Schedule:

Thursday, May 16

Game 1 - #1 seed UW-Stevens Point (34-8) vs. #6 seed George Fox, Ore. (26-13), 10 a.m.
Game 2 - #2 seed St. Thomas, Minn. (29-10) vs. #5 seed Blackburn, Ill. (27-13), 1 p.m.
Game 3 - #3 seed Lakeland, Wis. (29-14-1) vs. #4 seed Calvin, Mich. (28-11), 4 p.m.

Friday, May 17

Game 4 - Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 10 a.m.
Game 5 - Game 1 winner vs. Game 3 loser, 1 p.m.
Game 6 - Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 4 p.m.

Saturday, May 18

Pairings TBA (depends if four or five teams remain), games at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Sunday, May 19

Pairings TBA, games at noon and 3 p.m.

Broadcast 

     Games involving UW-Stevens Point can be heard on WWSP 89.9 FM. The broadcasts can also be accessed through the internet at http://www.uwsp.edu/stuorg/wwsp/listen.htm

Tournament Overview:

     Six teams from five different states and four different regions take part in this weekend�s NCAA Division III regional tournament with the winner of the regional advancing to the Division III World Series in Appleton May 24-28. UW-Stevens Point is the top seed in the regional for the first time in six tournament appearances. All six teams in the field are conference tournament or regular season champions and St. Thomas is the defending Division III national champion.

Postseason History:

     UW-Stevens Point is in the field for the second straight year and fifth time in six seasons. The only time since 1997 the Pointers didn�t make the tournament was in 2000. UW-Stevens Point also appeared in the 1988 bracket and has a 7-11 all-time tournament record. Four of the five regionals in which the Pointers have participated have been in Oshkosh with the 1999 tournament taking place at Tiedemann Field. UW-Stevens Point�s only regional championship came in 1997. The Pointers played St. Thomas in the 2001, 1999 and 1997 tournaments.

Series History:

     UW-Stevens Point has never played a school from the West Coast in its 48-year baseball history and has also never faced Calvin or Blackburn. The Pointers are 2-3 against St. Thomas, including a 1-2 mark in the postseason. UW-Stevens Point is 21-5 all-time against Lakeland with the last meetings a 3-0 and 6-2 Pointer sweep during the 1999 season.

Pointer Update:

UW-Stevens Point is in the midst of its best season in school history, surpassing its previous best of 31 wins in a season and already setting single-season school records for hits, runs, doubles, home runs and RBI�s. The team�s 66 home runs are the most in Division III. Many of the school�s single-season and career individual records have tumbled this season as well.

The Pointers won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles, becoming only the second top seed to win the tournament in its seven-year history along with UW-Oshkosh in 1998. All of the success has come despite only three returning starters from last year�s NCAA tournament team and only one starter back in the same position (Randy Reed in centerfield).

Reed has started 129 straight games in centerfield and leads the team with a .397 average. Paul Molitor leads the WIAC with 55 RBI�s and is hitting .386. Bill Verbrick was named the WIAC Pitcher of the Year and has a 9-1 record with a 3.30 ERA.

George Fox Update:

The Bruins won the Northwest Conference regular season by one-half game over Whitworth (Wash.) and just a game and a half over two other squads with a 16-7 league record. George Fox is in its second NCAA tournament, having finished 0-2 as a top seed in the 2000 regionals.

George Fox is led in hitting by junior Eric Bell with a .390 average, nine home runs, 48 RBI�s and 32 walks. Senior Ryan Dearinger set a Division III record this season by getting hit by a pitch 32 times.

A trio of pitchers have shouldered most of the Bruins� innings this season as sophomore Cory Dixon is 6-5 with a 3.26 ERA and freshman Scott Hyde is 7-2 with a 3.39 ERA. Sophomore Mike Beck is 6-1 with a 5.64 ERA.

St. Thomas Update:

The postseason is the Tommies� best time of year as they�ve posted a 21-6 record in the past three NCAA tournaments with appearances in the past three national championship games. St. Thomas is making its ninth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and 10th trip overall.

St. Thomas didn�t win the regular season title in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for the third straight year, but came back to win the conference tournament for the third time in its three-year history.

Tom Carroll leads the Tommies with a .395 batting average and 37 RBI�s. Kyle Olson went seven-for-15 in last weekend�s MIAC tournament and is now hitting .371 with 33 RBI�s. Brian Whinnery, who beat UW-Stevens Point in last year�s regional, has a 5-3 record and 1.94 ERA.

The Tommies split a series with WIAC foe UW-River Falls earlier this season.

Blackburn Update:

The Beavers are making their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance after winning the regular season title in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Blackburn ended its regular season on Monday by dropping a pair of games to Division I Illinois 4-0 and 6-1.

C.J. Jones leads the Beavers with a .402 batting average, including six home runs and 45 RBI�s. Tony Etnier is hitting .389 with 22 RBI�s.

Blackburn boasts the top pitching staff in the SLIAC and is led by Etnier with a 7-1 record and 2.73 ERA. Sean Courtney is 7-0 with a 4.71 ERA and Kenny Brown is 5-3 with a 2.68 ERA.

The Beavers lost to UW-Oshkosh 9-4 on March 16 in Millington, Tenn.

Lakeland Update:

The Muskies needed two late rallies to reach their first-ever NCAA tournament, coming back to beat Wisconsin Lutheran twice on the final day of the Lake Michigan Conference tournament. Lakeland trailed 14-2 in the sixth inning of the first game, but used 18 walks to rally for a 15-14 win. In the second game, the Muskies scored three runs in the seventh inning to pull out a 5-3 triumph.

Senior Chris Thousand is hitting .401 with 31 RBI�s, while Vance Henning has seven home runs and a team-high 42 RBI�s with a .352 average. Mike Stoeckigt is 26-for-26 stealing bases. Freshman Steve Plucinski is 8-2 with 93 strikeouts and a 3.57 ERA to lead the pitching staff.

The Muskies played UW-Oshkosh three times this season, finishing 1-1-1 against the Titans.

Calvin Update:

The Knights needed to sweep a three-game series from rival Hope last week to clinch the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship and they accomplished the feat with a 5-4 win that included three runs in the bottom of the sixth of the third game. Calvin opened the season 7-6, but has since posted a 21-5 record to reach its second NCAA tournament in three seasons. The Knights are 0-4 in previous tournament games in 2000 and 1984.

Calvin pitcher Jim Deters has enjoyed a tremendous season with a 10-1 record and 2.59 ERA that has included 95 strikeouts and seven walks over 76 1/3 innings. Josh Vriesman leads the hitting attack with a .385 average and 14 RBI�s. Darrell Heuker has a team-high 33 RBI�s.

The Knights have hit just seven home runs this season, including two over the past 26 games, but the team has 56 stolen bases for the season.

Record Watch:

Several more UW-Stevens Point records could fall this weekend as senior Randy Reed enters the weekend needing to play one game and needing three hits and six total bases to tie school career records. He already holds career marks for at bats, runs scored and triples. Paul Molitor needs 10 at bats to become the first player in WIAC history to reach 200 at bats in a season.

Bill Verbrick could set the school�s single-season wins record with one more victory, which would be his 10th this season. He has 276 2/3 career innings pitched and needs four innings this weekend to set the WIAC career record. Two more wins would tie him as the WIAC�s all-time winningest pitcher and he needs 11 strikeouts to tie the WIAC single-season record of 106. Jared Szews needs one save to tie the single-season school record of seven.

Tournament Notes:

      UW-Oshkosh is hosting the regional for the 21st consecutive year, but just the second time at Tiedemann Field. St. Thomas won the only other event at the facility in 1999�UW-Stevens Point has not played any of the teams in this year�s 42-team NCAA tournament field�Pointers� coach Brian Nelson was the WIAC Coach of the Year and is already the second-winningest coach in school history in just three seasons with a 92-33 record. He was the starting centerfielder on the 1997 and 1998 regional teams�The Pointers were held without a home run in the WIAC title game against UW-La Crosse, snapping a string of 14 straight games with a round-tripper�Reed brings a 15-game hitting streak into the tournament and Joe Waksmonski has hit in 12 straight games, including 22 of the last 23 contests�In the seventh inning or later, the Pointers have outscored opponents 124-33�Pointers� sophomore Josh Blaha has been the winning pitcher in the WIAC title game the past two years. He also earned a save in this year�s WIAC regular season title game against UW-Whitewater�The Pointers have faced both a left-hander and a righty in the same game in 29 of their 42 contests this season...With one victory, the Pointers would become the winningest men's team in school history, surpassing the 1988-89 hockey team, which finished 34-5-2. The 1998 women's softball team is the school's winningest team ever with a 43-15 record.