Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Kearney, Neb. – Junior designated hitter Tommy Barnes hit a two out, walk off single in the bottom of the eighth inning to help Nebraska-Kearney rally past Metro State, 10-9, in the second game of a double header Saturday at Memorial Field.

By coming back from deficits of 7-0 and 9-2, UNK (12-23, 11-16 RMAC) is now three games ahead of the Roadrunners (11, 22, 8-19) in the league standings.

Behind a five-hit complete game shut out from junior lefty Justin Arceneaux, Metro won game one, 5-0.

In the night cap, the 'Runners took advantage of four Loper errors to build a 7-0 lead by the bottom of the second. UNK, however, shut out Metro in four of the last five innings to allow its offense a chance to come back.

The Lopers did just that, scoring single runs in the third and fourth innings and, then crossing home plate three times in both the fifth and sixth innings, to make it a 9-8 game.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, senior 3b Mike Nowak (Omaha Roncalli) forced extra innings with his first homer of the year, a deep shot over the left field fence.

Senior righty Yancy Birch (Grand Junction, Colo.) then blanked Metro in the top of the eighth thanks to Nowak making a nifty play on a ground ball. With one out in the bottom of the inning, junior RF Brian Wuest (4 for 5, three runs, three RBI's) hit a sharp single to right and eventually moved to second when junior 1b Christian Lujan (1 for 2, one run) drew a two out walk.

That brought up Barnes (Perry Hall, Md.), who recorded his third hit of the day, a shot to right center that easily scored Wuest.

Birch picked up the win by throwing 2.1 innings of scoreless ball with sophomore lefty Mannie Reinsch (Kearney Catholic) also having a scoreless inning in relief.  Finally, junior left fielder Alex Miller (Omaha) went 2 for 5 with two runs scored from the two hole.

Arceneaux improved to 2-4 by shutting down the Loper offense, setting down 11 in a row at one point. Fanning six and walking one, he followed up Loper senior Mike Loseke's six-hit complete game shut out on Friday night.

Metro hit two wind-aided homers as part of a nine hit attack. They scored four runs in the second, two on a homer to left center by right fielder Gavin Purvis.

Fremont redshirt freshman Michael Hahn did come out of the pen to throw four innings of scoreless relief for the Lopers.

The series finishes up Sunday with a single nine inning game at noon.