AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- The nationally ranked University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point baseball team exploded for a combined nine runs in the third and fourth innings and went on to defeat the University of Southern Maine, 12-4, in a non-conference game Thursday at Lake Myrtle Field #4 in Auburndale, Fla.

            The win was the fourth straight for the Pointers who are ranked seventh nationally in the latest d3baseball.com poll.  The Pointers are 6-2 overall.  The Huskies fall to 6-5 overall.

            Junior Justin Jirschele (Clintonville, Wis.) led the Pointers' 18-hit attack with three hits, including a pair of doubles, and five RBI.  Classmate Max Mittelstaedt (Oshkosh, Wis.) also had three hits and three RBI.  Senior Eric Fritz (Custer, Wis.) had three singles and scored three times.  Rookie pitcher Brad Stroik (Stevens Point, Wis.) the fourth of five UWSP hurlers, picked up the win hurling 3.1 innings of shutout relief.

            Senior Mike Eaton (Sabattus, Maine/Oak Hill) was the lone repeat hitter for the Huskies.  Eaton had three singles.  Senior right-handed pitcher Ben Ives (Portland, Maine/Deering) was saddled with his second loss of the season.

            The Pointers combined a walk and five hits into five runs against Ives in the third inning.  Jirschele and Mittelstaedt each had a two-run double in the inning.

            Southern Maine picked up two runs in the home half of the third to make it 5-2.  Junior Anthony Pisani (Cheshire, Conn./Notre Dame) scored on a wild pitch and Eaton crossed the plate on a double play.

            In the fourth, the Pointers used five hits and two hit batsman to score four times against Ives and junior reliever James Nutter (Kennebunk, Maine) to blow the game open.

            Both teams scored two runs in the fifth.  Jirschele had his second two-run double for the Pointers.  For the Huskies, sophomore Chris Bernard (Scarborough, Maine) drove in the first run with a double, and later came home on a single by senior Jordan Berthiaume (Berlin, Conn.).

            Southern Maine will play a doubleheader on Friday (12:00 p.m.) with Washington and Jefferson College.  UWSP concludes it spring trip with a second game today against St. Olaf College.

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