Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Sophomore third baseman Josh Estrada drew a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning to help Nebraska-Kearney edge Fort Hays State, 12-11, Tuesday night at Memorial Field.

The win helps the Lopers (17-21, 14-15) take the season series from the Tigers (17-23, 11-18). The three-game set concludes next week in Kansas.

The 3:40 minute soggy contest featured 23 runs on 25 hits, 14 walks, six hit batters and six errors. There were four lead changes with a steady rain falling from about the seventh inning on.

To hand Hays its sixth straight loss, the Lopers had to shake off a rain-soaked top of the eighth inning. The Tigers erased a 10-7 deficit by scoring four times, all with two outs. Just two innings prior, Kearney was ahead 7-3.

In the top of the eighth, FHSU used a triple, four walks and two hit batters to grab an unlikely 11-10 lead. However, the Lopers countered quickly as junior right fielder Jacob Richardson (Goddard, Kan.) led off the bottom of the inning with a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

First baseman Andrew Unrein threw the last 1.2 innings for his team, one of six Tigers to go to the mound tonight. Unrein struggled with control in the ninth, going to a full count with leadoff hitter and center fielder Easton Edmond (0 for 4, thee runs & one RBI).

Edmond (Lincoln S.W.) drew a walk and then moved to third after the Tigers couldn't cleanly field a sac bunt from Omaha sophomore DH Dallas Schramm (2 for 5 & one RBI. After senior first baseman Kyle Honeycutt (2 for 3, two runs) was plunked, Estrada (1 for 3, two runs & two RBI's) strolled to the plate.

On a 3-1 count, Estrada (Houston, Texas) watched the game's final pitch sail over his head with Edmond then easily trotting home.

Junior right hander Sean Laughlin (Overland Park, Kans.) earned his first win in a UNK uniform, allowing no hits and no runs over the final 1.1 innings. In his first start as a Loper, junior John Watson (Shawnee, Okla.) gave up one earned run in 4.2 innings.

Finally, junior Matt Salamon (Owasso, Okla.) and redshirt freshman Pate Katechis (Longmont, Colo.) each drove in a pair of runs.

The Lopers are at Missouri Western State this weekend.