By Joe Vanden Acker, Director of Athletic Media Relations
    STEVENS POINT, Wis. -- Friday's NCAA Division III regional baseball tournament opener had the feeling of an upset special midway through the game.
    Fourth-seeded Lawrence University had fought back to grab a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning against top-seeded and 12th-ranked UW-Stevens Point on their home turf at Zimmermann Field.
    The hard-hitting Pointers regrouped in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead and flexed their muscle with some home runs en route to an 11-6 victory over Lawrence. The Vikings now face an opponent to be determined in an elimination game at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.
    "I thought we were in it the whole way," Lawrence coach Chris Krepline said. "The momentum shift started to happen in that inning (the fifth)."
    Lawrence (26-12) collected 12 hits against four Stevens Point pitchers, and five Vikings had two hits apiece. 
    Jacob Charon went 2-for-5, blasted his 20th home run of the season, drove in two runs and scored twice for the Vikings. Lead-off hitter Parker Knoll was 2-for-5 with a double and a triple for the Vikings. Lawrence's Zach Leslie was 2-for-4 with a double, Edan Perez was 2-for-5 with a double and Taylor Freeman was 2-for-4. 
    "We knew this was going to be a slugfest," Krepline said. "They can sure hit the ball and we can too."
    Stevens Point (35-7) had 15 hits against three Lawrence pitchers, and Logan Matson went 3-for-4 with a double and a homer, drove in three runs and scored twice.
    The Pointers led 2-0 after three innings, but Lawrence struck for three runs in the top of the fourth. 
    Jeffery Cambra started the fourth with a walk, and Leslie followed with a double. Charon then lined a single to center field to score Cambra and cut the lead to 2-1. Perez then smacked another double to score Leslie and tie the game at 2-2. Freeman hit a rocket right at left fielder Matt Baumann, but Charon tagged up and scored to put Lawrence up 3-2. 
    The Vikings added to the lead in the fifth after Knoll tripled to right center to start the inning. Cambra followed with a single up the middle to score Knoll for a 4-2 advantage.
    Stevens Point grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the fifth with five runs on four hits, including a pair of two-run hits.
    Lawrence got one of those runs back in the top of the sixth when Freeman singled and scored on Knoll's double to trim the margin to 7-5. Stevens Point pushed the lead up to 9-5 with a pair of solo homers in the sixth. 
    Stevens Point led 11-5 when Charon extended his own school record with his 20th homer of the season in the ninth.
    "We just get ready for the next challenge," Charon said after the loss. "We just let this pass."
    Quinn Berglin went 4.2 innings and allowed seven runs on seven hits to take the loss. Nick Carpenter picked up the win with 1.2 innings of work in relief of JD Schultz.
    The loss was certainly disappointing for the young Vikings, but Knoll said the team made a point on Friday.
    "We showed that we belonged here," Knoll said.


Lawrence second baseman Taylor Freeman tags out UW-Stevens Point's Matt Baumann on a steal attempt in the seventh inning.