DENVER, Colo. - Metro State was held to just six hits as the Roadrunners fell 6-2 to Nebraska-Kearney on Thursday at Auraria Field in Denver. The loss dropped Metro State to 19-16 overall and 10-12 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while the Lopers improved to 12-24 overall and 9-14 in the RMAC.

UNK senior righthander pitched all nine innings, scattering six hits, while walking just one and striking out three.

Matt McConnell (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson H.S.) and Brennan Brown (Thornton, Colo./Legacy H.S.) each had two hits for Metro State. Tommy Frikken (Arvada, Colo./Pomona H.S.) and Tyree Abshire (Paonia, Colo./Paonia H.S.) had the other two hits.

Joel Lockhart (Golden, Colo./Golden H.S.) suffered the loss, pitching eight innings and allowing just four earned runs.

After Lockhart pitched a 1-2-3 first inning, Frikken led off with a double to left-center and went to third as the center fielder bobbled the ball. A ground out by Mike Coffey (Highlands Ranch, Colo./ThunderRidge H.S.) brought Frikken home one batter later to put Metro State ahead 1-0.

Lockhart breezed through the first three innings, allowing just a walk in the third inning. But the Lopers got on the board in the fourth with four runs on four hits, including a three-run home run by Leon de Winter.

The Roadrunners got one back in the fifth as Brown scored on a ground out by Marcel Dominguez (Carlsbad, N.M./Carlsbad H.S.).

After the rough fourth inning, Lockhart settled down and allowed just one walk over the next three innings. The Nebraska-Kearney got to him again in the eighth with two outs, as Daren Grace drilled a two-run double down the right field line, just past a diving Mike Coffey (Highlands Ranch, Colo./ThunderRidge H.S.). That would be the final runs for both teams as Sheldon pitched around a one-out error in the eighth and a one-out walk in the ninth.

The two teams will meet for a doubleheader on Friday beginning at noon at Auraria Field.