Starting pitcher JP Feyereisen and left fielder Casey Barnes celebrate the Pointers' three-run, eighth-inning rally. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com More photos from this game

By Ryan Smith
for D3sports.com

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. – Linfield pulled a page out of UW-Stevens Point’s playbook, defeating the Pointers 5-3 in a dramatic comeback Sunday to remain undefeated in the NCAA Division III College World Series.

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The Wildcats were kept off the board until the seventh inning when they got two runs before adding three more in the eighth to seal the victory. 

The win means the Linfield will play for the national title on Tuesday. UW-Stevens Point faces Southern Maine in an elimination game on Monday at noon CT. Linfield faces Ithaca at 3:30 p.m. If Linfield defeats Ithaca, the Bombers will be eliminated and the Stevens Point-Southern Maine winner will need to beat Linfield twice on Tuesday. If Ithaca defeats Linfield, then Ithaca will face the Stevens Point-Southern Maine winner on Tuesday, and the winner of that game goes on to play Linfield in a winner-take-all game for the title.

Stevens Point had won both of its tournament games with come-from-behind victories in the final innings much like Linfield did Sunday. Linfield’s ace, D3baseball.com pitcher of the year Chris Haddeland, came into the game in the ninth and sent the Pointers down in order.

“It was a tough one to take,” Pointers coach Pat Bloom said. “They beat us at our game, which has been winning the late innings the last few weeks. Whenever you have the lead going into the seventh, you feel confident but tonight we didn’t get it done.”

The Pointers got the crowd revved up early when Dan Douglas and Ryan Schilter led the inning off with back-to-back singles. Douglas came around to score on a Jimmy Coady sacrifice fly to left field but Linfield got out of the inning without further trouble.

Both teams’ bats were quiet until Linfield put Stevens Point starter Ben Messenger in a jam in the bottom of the fourth inning. Nick Fisher started the rally when he reached base on an error by Pointer third baseman Riley Spetz that was promptly followed by a Jake Wylie single. The Wildcats were set up with runners on the corners when Kramer Lindell hit into a fielder’s choice that left him safe at first but Wylie out second. Coach Scott Brosius’s team then attempted to bait the Pointers into a rundown when they attempted a double steal but Stevens Point did not fall for it, ginning down Fisher at the plate, and killing the Wildcat threat.

Stevens Point added to its lead in the top half of the seventh inning when Douglas brought Bobby Gregorich home with a RBI single. Schilter got another run in when he sent a sacrifice fly into the outfield, giving the Pointers a 3-0 lead.

The Wildcats finally got to Messenger, a freshman, in the bottom half of the seventh inning with a Clayton Truex RBI double, giving Linfield its first run of the night. Truex stole third but tripped while rounding the bag and couldn’t score. Luckily for the Wildcats, Jordan Harlow hit a fly ball to right that brought Truex home and pulled Linfield within one.

Truex’s double was the first legitimate spark the Wildcat offense produced Sunday.

“Up until [the seventh inning] it was a rarity to have a guy on second base, just a base hit away from scoring,” Truex said. “It was great to know when we got opportunities, we take advantage.”

Stevens Point brought Tyler Flood into the game with no outs in the eighth after Messenger hit Michael Hopp to start the inning. Flood gave up a triple to Tim Wilson after just a few pitches and Linfield tied the game. The Wildcats continued to rally off Flood with a Wylie sacrifice fly to right that put them on top 4-3. Linfield kept piling it on with a Lindell double that scored another run and gave the Wildcats a 5-3 edge heading into the final inning.

While the whole tone of the game changed in the late innings, Wilson said the demeanor and confidence of the Wildcats never wavered.

“We score early or we score late,” Wilson said. “Our mood really doesn’t change. We know no one is going to shut us out. We were hitting the ball hard all game and we knew they would start falling. We needed one guy to get a big hit and we knew a rally would start.”

Messenger pitched 7.0 strong innings for the Pointers, giving up three runs on four hits but it wasn’t enough for the Stevens Point offense.

“You always dream of getting an opportunity like that, going out there against a good team,” Messenger said. “You just know that you have a good defense behind you and go out there and do your best job. That was the case for most of the game. They just punched us in the face and we couldn’t respond.”

Stevens Point will play Southern Maine at noon central in an elimination game while Linfield will play Ithaca at 3:30 p.m. central time. The Wildcats beat the Bombers 8-6 on Friday.

Linfield postgame news conference

UW-Stevens Point postgame news conference