Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Junior second baseman Jake Huscroft capped a three-run rally in the bottom of the 11^th inning with a walk-off single to help Nebraska-Kearney beat Lindenwood, 14-13, in a wild game Sunday at Memorial Field.
 
With the win, UNK improves to 9-8 (7-2) and is tied with Emporia State for first place in the MIAA.
 
In a contest that lasted nearly four hours, the teams combined for 27 runs thanks to 27 hits, 12 walks, and seven errors. Each team used five different pitchers with four players registering six official at-bats.
 
The Lions (8-9, 3-6) trailed 3-0 after one inning as senior leadoff hitter Shane Sharkey (McKinney, Texas) hit a homer down the left field line. Soon after, junior Brent Kirsch (2 for 5, three RBI's) and redshirt freshman Pate Katechis (3 for 5, two runs & five RBI's) knocked in runs.
 
However, Lindenwood scored five in the second and added single runs in the third and fourth to build a 7-3. Eventually down 9-3, the Lopers scored two unearned runs in the fifth to start to come back.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, UNK cut a four-run deficit to one as redshirt sophomore catcher Dallas Schramm (3 for 5, four runs & three RBI's) belted a two out, three-run homer.
 
UNK turned to the long ball again as Katechis led off the ninth with a homer to left center, knotting things at 11.
 
A wild 11th inning saw LWU go back on top, using a leadoff error and two singles to score two. But, Katechis struck again, belting a two-run shot in the bottom of the inning to tie things up once more. He and Sharkey are tied for the season lead in homers with six.
 
Kirsch followed with a walk and then moved to second on a sac bunt. Replacing Matt Salamon (Owasso, Okla.) in the 10th, Huscroft (Millard South H.S.) ended things with a single on the fourth pitch he saw.
 
Grand Island senior Chayse Gulzow earned the win by allowing no earned runs in one full inning of work. 
 
UNK heads to Wayne State on Wednesday.