Third-ranked Mesa St. hands Lopers pair of losses
Posted by Administrator on Apr 08 2009
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Photo by Cody Riedel
Darren Grace, a sophomore second baseman from Blair, turns a double play against Mesa State College, while Brandon Buchanan, a junior shortstop from Loveland, Colo., watches the action.

By Matt Lindsay
Antelope Staff

The Nebraska weather reared its ugly head this past weekend as the Lopers and Mesa State only managed to get in two games of the scheduled four-game series.

Despite solid pitching performances from Kearney senior pitcher Ryan Sheldon and Kearney junior pitcher Jared Loschen, the Lopers lost both games by scores of 7-3 and 6-4, Friday afternoon at Memorial Field.

Game one was settled in extra innings as the Lopers and Mavericks completed the first nine tied at two. The Mesa bats exploded in the top of the tenth as the Mavs proceeded to score five runs on six hits to pull away for the victory.

After giving up two runs in the first inning, Sheldon settled down and proceeded to shut out the Mavericks over the next eight frames. The game remained 2-0 until the seventh inning when Netherlands senior catcher Leon de Winter put one over the fence, and Persia, Iowa sophomore outfielder Luke Stamp singled home Kearney sophomore Ben Townsend to tie the game. Sheldon struck out five in nine and two-thirds innings of work.

Despite allowing six runs in six and two-thirds innings, Loschen managed to strike out a career-high 11 batters in the nightcap. Mesa (30-5, 20-2 RMAC) found its offense in the third inning as four Mavs crossed the plate. The Lopers responded with an offensive outburst of its own in the fourth inning as de Winter hit his second home run of the day. Lincoln senior outfielder Nate Swearer followed with a big fly of his own to cut Mesa's lead in half.

The Mavs then scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to extend the lead back to four. The Lopers threatened to cut into Mesa's lead once again in its own half of the seventh as UNK (11-24, 8-14 RMAC) managed to load the bases with no outs, but was unable to get any runs across.

The Lopers have now lost eight straight games and will be in Denver on April 9-11 to take on the Metro State Roadrunners.