Lincoln, Neb. — Nebraska scored five unanswered runs in their final two at-bats to defeat the Fighting Sioux baseball team, 8-6, on Sunday in the series finale between the two teams at Haymarket Park. The Sioux (1-14) held a late three-run advantage for the second straight game against the Huskers (14-7), but the home team rallied once again to finish off a four-game sweep of UND.

“I thought we played well again today,” UND head coach Jeff Dodson said. “We got a great effort from David Spies on the mound, but we have to stop giving up late runs. There have been one or two plays or pitches here of late, which has created big opportunities for the opponents. Nebraska took advantage of those again in this game, but we have to continue to work through it.”

The Sioux broke a 3-3 tie in the top of the seventh inning by plating a trio of runs on four hits in the frame. Junior Kyle Bolander (Hermantown, Minn.) drove in the go-ahead run with a RBI single and freshman Matt Richer (Kenosha, Wis.) padded the lead with a two-run single to right. 

Unfortunately, the Huskers erased their deficit rather quickly, staging an immediate rally for the second consecutive game. NU squared the score at 6-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning thanks to a RBI single by Kurt Farmer, a sacrifice fly by Josh Scheffert and a game-tying double off the bat of Khiry Cooper.

UND had touched up Nebraska reliever Casey Hauptman for two runs in his first inning of work, but the righthander, who had given up just one earned run in more than 23 innings of work coming into the contest, settled down keeping the Sioux off the scoreboard in the eighth and ninth innings.

Sioux starter David Spies (Grand Forks, N.D.) took the mound to open the eighth in a tie ball game. He yielded a leadoff single to Michael Pritchard and a successful sac bunt moved him into scoring position. That forced Spies to intentionally walk Cody Asche and  reliever Zac Salfer (Sleepy Eye, Minn.) took over for Spies following the free pass.

Salfer would load the bases after hitting Kash Kalkowski, but the righthander got Farmer to ground into what appeared to be a potentially inning-ending double play, but an errant throw on the relay by sophomore Kris Kwak (Maple Grove, Minn.) allowed the go-ahead runs to score for the Huskers.

The only hit Hauptman allowed in the final two innings was a leadoff single to senior Jake Magner (Grand Rapids, Minn.) in the ninth, but the Sioux slugger was left stranded as the Huskers' closer retired the next three batters.

Hauptman (3-1) picked up the victory, while Spies (0-2) took the loss for the Sioux. The lefthanded logged the longest outing by a UND starter this season, going 7.1 innings in his second start of the campaign. Farmer homered for the second consecutive game for Nebraska as his second-inning solo jolt opened the scoring.

UND rightfielder Seth Means (Gillette, Wyo.) hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the third. The blast was the JUCO-transfer's first home run in a Sioux uniform. Bolander and Magner led UND's nine-hit attack with two hits a piece.

The Sioux will return to action next Saturday with a doubleheader at Creighton. The twinbill will be followed by a single game against the Blue Jays in Omaha on Sunday.

– Go Sioux –