NEW ORLEANS ? A little more than 11 months ago, Bryan Cryer got pulled from a game against Western Kentucky where he had an infinite earned run average and not a lot of confidence.
Fast-forward to Saturday, though, and everything got reversed.
The senior right-hander was dominant for seven innings, and the Privateers hit three home runs in a 5-3 win over Western Kentucky at Maestri Field.
Cryer (7-1) struck out eight and allowed just three hits and one run in winning his fourth straight decision. It was sweet revenge for the four-year letter winner, who faced six batters and did not record an out in his last start against the Hilltoppers.
“I've definitely been looking forward to it,” said Cryer, who gave up five runs in the first inning of a May 6, 2007 game that UNO actually rallied to win. “Today I just really kept the ball down and mixed things up. (Catcher) Josh Vander Hey called a great game today, and they weren't able to hit a lot of balls hard.”
UNO got a two-run home run from Nick Schwaner and solo shots from Vander Hey and Michael Knipper to help the Privateers (22-10, 7-6 Sun Belt Conference) clinch their third straight conference weekend series.
The Privateers were without head coach Tom Walter, who was attending a memorial service for Jeanette Mattson ? mother of UNO pitcher Mats Mattson. Mattson passed away last week after a battle with cancer.
UNO associate head coach Bruce Peddie served as acting head coach.
“Bryan was awfully tough out there,” said Peddie, now 3-0 in his two-year UNO career when stepping in as head coach. “He was really keeping them off-balance. He's a different pitcher than last year.
“Last year, it was fastball, change-up. Now that he has a cutter to go with those two pitches, it makes him so much tougher.”
Cryer gave up just one hit in the first six innings, though UNO only led 1-0 going into the sixth. WKU right-hander Matt Ridings (6-2) kept the Hilltoppers (18-15, 6-8) around despite not having his best stuff.
The Privateers finally got to him in the sixth after Johnny Giavotella laced a one-out double to right field. After a flyout, Schwaner turned on a first-pitch fastball and sent it over the right-field wall to make it 3-0.
WKU got a run back in the seventh on a solo home run from Chad Cregar, but the Privateers made it 4-1 in the bottom of the frame thanks to a leadoff home run from Knipper.
Knipper, who had three hits in Friday's 11-10 win, went 2-for-3 on Saturday and is 5-for-7 in the weekend series.
WKU made it interesting in the eighth after a two-run, two-out triple by Terrence Dayleg cut it to 4-3. But Ryan O'Shea worked the final 1 1/3 innings to claim his second straight save of the weekend, and Vander Hey added a solo home run in the eighth.
“We have had some guys really step up after they'd been struggling a little bit,” Peddie said. “This game is all about confidence, and it's good to see some of these guys getting some positive results.”
The two teams will wrap up the three-game series at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
