Box Score Kearney, Neb. – A pinch hit RBI double and three consecutive bunts helped the Central Missouri Mules rally past Nebraska-Kearney, 7-5, Friday night in an MIAA Tournament game in Warrensburg, Mo.

The Mules (30-20) won the best-of-three series, 2-0. UNK ends the year at 29-21.

In game with a combined 25 hits and five runs in the first inning, the teams had trouble scoring at times as UNK stranded nine and UCM eight.

The Lopers had leads of 2-0 and 4-3 but the Mules countered each time UNK crossed home plate. UCM had a three-run first and tied things up with a run in the fifth. An RBI double off the bat of senior designated hitter Dillon Schroeder (2 for 5) in the sixth briefly gave the Lopers the lead back.

Senior lefty starter Aaron Smith (Cheyenne, Wyo.) shut out the Mules in the sixth and then was lifted from the game after throwing just over 100 pitches. In his final collegiate appearance, he allowed four earned on 12 hits and a walk with four strikeouts. He ends the year with 56 K's to just seven walks.

Junior cleanup hitter Bennett Oliver led off the Mule seventh with a walk, taking first on a 3-2 pitch. An unlikely batter then stepped to the plate in junior Dylan Hanson. The lefty recorded just his sixth of the year, a double down the left field line that not only stayed fair by inches but brought Oliver home to score.

UCM, like they did Thursday night, played small ball, laying down three straight bunts. The first resulted in an error and scored the go-ahead run, the second moved a runner up a base and the third was a "suicide squeeze" that resulted in the night's final run.

Redshirt senior Blake Heissler (6-1) came on and shut the door, fanning five Lopers and not allowing a hit over the final three innings. UNK recorded 11 hits off starter Ricky Rivera but he also threw three shutout innings.

For the Lopers, senior second baseman Coby Roming (Canyon, Texas) went 3 for 4 and junior first baseman Connor Messinger (Niwot, Colo.) went 2 for 4 with an RBI. Finally, junior left fielder Anthony Pacheco (Kearney Catholic H.S.) knocked in two with a single in the fifth.

Besides Schroeder, Smith and Roming, the 2015 senior class includes center fielder Brandon Landanger (Kearney H.S.), catcher Max Ayoub (Grand Island H.S.), third baseman Danny Droll (Penrose, Colo.) and pitchers Michael Hahn (Fremont), David Boddiger (Longmont, Colo.), Dalton Cowen (Gillette, Wyo.) and Ross Mortensen (Colo. Springs, Colo.).

"This was a special bunch to coach," said UNK head coach Damon Day of Troop 55 (aka the 55^th Loper baseball team in the modern era)