Pointers move into second in Sears Director's Cup standings High finishes in national competition catapulted the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point athletic program into second place in the latest Sears Director's Cup standings. The award recognizes the top overall athletic programs in the country by compiling each sport's finish in NCAA tournament competition. The Pointers have 531 points and trail defending champion Williams (Mass.) by 75 points. UW-La Crosse is in third place with 505 points. The standings include over 380 Division III schools and 241 schools have earned points. The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has five schools in the top 20 as UW-Eau Claire is currently 12th, while UW-Whitewater is 15th and UW-Oshkosh is 17th. UW-SP's latest additions were 77 points with a seventh place finish in men's swimming and diving and 60 points for a fifth place finish in men's basketball. The points are adjusted based on the number of teams in a particular tournament. The Pointers finished 17th in last year's standings with a total of 230 points for the year, marking their third straight year in the top 20. UW-SP's highest finish was seventh place in 1998. The Pointers still have a chance to accumulate more points in the spring as the baseball and softball teams have each made three NCAA tournament appearances in the past four years. Outdoor track and field is only included if the result is better than the indoor performance, however, UW-SP finished fourth in the men's indoor and 24th in the women's indoor. Williams is the defending national champion in men's tennis and defending runner-up in women's tennis. The Ephs can also accumulate points in men's golf and men's and women's lacrosse, which are sports UW-SP does not offer. An 11th place finish by the women's swimming team, the indoor track and field finishes and points from wrestling were included in an earlier tabulation. UW-SP received points from men's cross country (sixth), football, women's soccer and women's cross country in the fall season. Baseball Having won 11 of its last 12 games, the UW-Stevens Point baseball team is ranked 23rd in the latest NCAA Division III poll by the American Baseball Coaches Association. The Pointers are 15-4 overall and have outscored their opponents 127-38 this season. All four of their losses are by two runs or less. Included in the record is a split with fourth-ranked Ohio Wesleyan and a 3-0 mark against Division II competition. Pointers-Marian doubleheader Kevin Fry drove in five runs in the opening game and Jeff Pieper pitched UW-SP's fifth shutout of the season as the Pointers swept Marian 7-1 and 8-0 in a non-conference doubleheader Wednesday in Fond du Lac. Fry, who entered the game with five RBIs all season, went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. He had two-run doubles in the fifth and seventh innings and a RBI single in the third. Sam Molski and Ryan Ivy also had run-scoring hits. Troy Bielmeier threw just 77 pitches in the complete game victory and has not allowed an earned run in 26 innings pitched for the season. In the second game, Molski gave the Pointers a 2-0 lead in the third inning with his fifth home run of the season. UW-SP added four runs in the second as Fry, Ivy, Mike McCann and Jon Jagler all drove in runs. Mike Wendorf had a run-scoring single in the sixth and Matt Peetz scored on an error to account for the Pointers' final two runs. Pat McCann led UW-SP at the plate, hitting 2-for-3 with a double. Pieper cruised, scattering just five hits in five different innings while throwing 71 pitches for his second victory. Softball The Pointers won their third consecutive UW-Stout tournament title last weekend. UW-SP (14-5-1) dropped out of the latest rankings by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. However, the Pointers are the top vote-getter not in the latest poll with five votes. Senior catcher Michelle Gerber was named to the All-Tournament team and also received the team's Pointer of the week for a position player honor. Freshman pitcher Karen Guckenberger is the team's Pointer of the week for pitching. Pointers 4, UW-Platteville 3 UW-SP wrapped up its title Sunday in the extra-innings victory. Former Pacelli High player Kelly Rutta scored the winning run in the eighth inning. Guckenberger picked up the win on the mound, giving up five hits while striking out seven. Kim Grubba was 2-for-3 while Gerber added a double. Pointers 5, UW-River Falls 2 Heidi Hoff and Gerber both drove in a pair of runs as UW-SP used a five-run third inning to top the Falcons. Jaime Lowney allowed four hits in seven innings to pick up the win. She also had three strikeouts and two walks. Pointers 6, Viterbo 5 Carrie Hermsen scored on a wild pitch to break a 5-5 tie and Lowney worked out of a ninth inning bases-loaded jam as the Pointers outlasted Viterbo Saturday. UW-SP trailed 3-0 after the first inning but battled back on Rutta's solo homer in the fourth and RBI single in the fifth. Sarah Berg then followed with a two-run double in the fifth for a 4-3 lead. Hermsen was a pinch runner in the ninth, was sacrificed to third by Hoff and scored on the wild pitch. Viterbo had the bases loaded with two outs, but Lowney forced an infield pop fly to end the game and earn the victory in relief. Pointers 4, Sioux Falls 0 Guckenberger pitched a four-hit shutout and improved to 8-0 on the season (0.28 ERA). UW-SP scored three times in the third inning when Cari Briley hit a run-scoring single, Rutta hit a sacrifice fly and Briley later scored on an error. Rutta added a RBI triple in the seventh. Hoff was 2-for-3 at the plate. Track and field Seven different athletes and one relay team won events to lead the UW-SP men's track team at the UW-Oshkosh dual meet Wednesday. No team scores were kept in the meet, which was a makeup from Saturday's postponement. Dan Schwamberger (1,500-meter run), Matt Buska (200 dash), Craig Gunderson (400 dash), Mike Mead (high jump), Josh Hamilton (triple jump), Cory Lesperance (long jump), Joel Schult (discus) and the 4x100 relay team all won their respective events. Becky Lebak captured the 1,500-meter run for the UW-SP women's track team's lone individual winner at Saturday's UW-La Crosse triangular. Lebak, who was named player of the week for women's track events, won the race in 4:49.12, edging UW-La Crosse's Jenny Fiedler by less than a second. UW-SP's 1,600 relay of Laura LaCrosse, Missy Kraemer, Katie Eiring and Leah Juno also won their race. Juno also finished second in the 400 dash. Megan Lundahl was named the Pointer of the week for women's field events after finishing third in the hammer throw, fourth in the discus and sixth in the javelin. The Pointers finished third with 55 points, trailing the Eagles (213.5) and UW-Oshkosh (108.5).