By The Hays Daily News

KEARNEY, Neb. -- The Fort Hays State University baseball team was swept Wednesday on the road.

The Tigers lost 10-5 and 8-7 to the University of Nebraska-Kearney. The Lopers improved to 11-9, 11-6 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, and FHSU dropped to 11-11, 7-10 MIAA.

In Game 1, FHSU started off strong scoring two runs in the top of the first but then got into a lull, recording just one hit in the next four innings combined.

In that time, Nebraska-Kearney built an 8-2 lead. FHSU started to rally in the sixth, scoring two, but UNK answered with two runs of its own. Down 10-4, the Tigers added a run in the seventh before the game ended.

FHSU starter Jesse Hart (3-1), a senior, suffered the loss. He allowed 12 hits and 10 runs, seven earned, in 5.1 innings.

FHSU led in Game 2 but surrendered a two-run lead in the eighth inning. The Tigers recaptured the lead with an RBI single by senior Kelton Rule, a Hays High School graduate, but lost it again in the bottom of the ninth as freshman outfielder Anthony Pacheco hit a 2-RBI walk-off home run to center field.

Senior closer Kyle Leroy (1-1) took the mound in the eighth and took the loss. He allowed two hits and two earned runs in two-thirds of an inning.

Rule led the Tigers at the plate, hitting 3 of 5 and recording two RBIs and two runs scored.