NEW ORLEANS ? The University of New Orleans baseball team tallied 16 hits and scored seven runs in the middle innings to take an 11-9 win over Harvard on Thursday at Maestri Field.
Jay Morris tallied a career-high four hits and was one of six Privateers to record multiple hits as UNO (8-14) snapped a five-game losing streak at home.
Jerad Comarda went 2-for-4, including a two-run home run, and Nick Schwaner went 2-for-4 with a solo home run.
Harry Douglas went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run for Harvard (2-14), which trailed 10-3 after six innings before scoring six unanswered runs.
UNO's Mats Mattson (1-0) picked up his first career collegiate win after tossing two scoreless innings in relief of starter Andrew Richardson.
Anthony Nutter (0-2) suffered the loss for Harvard after surrendering four hits and four runs without retiring a batter in the fourth inning.
David Burch pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his first save of the year.
A save did not seem necessary after UNO plated four runs in the fourth and three in the sixth to take a 10-3 lead.
But the Crimson fought back with a four-run seventh despite recording just three hits to make it 10-7. Harvard got two more in the eighth on back-to-back two-out RBI singles from J.T. Tomes (2-for-5, two RBIs) and Dillon O'Neill to cut the lead to 10-9.
Schwaner, though, gave UNO a key insurance run with an opposite field home run down the left-field line in the bottom of the eighth. Burch gave up a pair of singles in the ninth, but the senior right-hander got Harvard catcher Jeff Reynolds to hit a soft line drive to shortstop to end it.
It was the first midweek win in six tries for UNO this year.
The Privateers will host Troy in an important three-game Sun Belt Conference series this weekend. The teams will kick off the set at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
For ticket information, please call 504-280-GAME or log on to UNOPrivateers.com.
