Riverland tried to return the favor on Bethany Lutheran, but the Blue Devils' own mistakes kept them from getting the job done.

The visiting Vikings vaulted out to a 9-0 lead in the first game of Sunday's MCCC South Division doubleheader in Austin, but the Blue Devils remembered how Bethany Lutheran was able to turn a pair of league defeats into comeback victories in Mankato earlier this season.

Riverland's rallies fell short, however, leaving the Devils with their fifth and sixth straight losses, 9-7 and 7-5 in eight innings.

"It was basically the same thing that happened at their place," said Riverland coach Scott Koenigs. "We kind of let two slip away again that we should have had."

Riverland nearly pulled off an improbable comeback in Sunday's opening game, trailing 9-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth. Adam Highum's two-out RBI-double plated pitcher Mike Haugen with the Devils' first run.

Bethany Lutheran starter Andy Stolt, last week's South Division player of the week, had a four-hit shutout going until the sixth.

After pitching his first 1-2-3 inning in the top of the seventh, Haugen and the Blue Devil bats came to life against Stolt's relief.

Matt Dixon led off with a single and Nate Vollbrecht was hit by the next pitch. Todd Walerak singled home a run and Jamie Morrison did the same. Haugen, already 3-for-3 in the game, drove in Walerak to chase Viking reliever Adam Larson from the hill.

Sidearmed thrower Mark Woodward came on with two on and none out and a 9-4 lead. Haugen was forced out at second on Jeff Geisler's fielder's choice, leaving a pair on for Derek Bonser, who wrapped a three-run homer around the right field foul pole.

After Woodward recorded the second out on strikes, Clint Ripley singled through the right side to bring up the tying run. Woodward chalked up his second strikeout of the inning to end the game.

Go with the flow

Riverland kept the momentum heading into the second game, seeing the Vikings' No. 2 hurler Tom Metzger. Metzger got one of Bethany's two wins in the first doubleheader with Riverland in Mankato, but a two-run first inning had the Devils ahead right away.

Bonser, getting the call to start for the first time this season, got great help from his defense for five innings. But in the sixth, a two-out fly ball to the outfield was uncharacteristically misplayed and allowed two runs to score. Another error plated the go-ahead run for the Vikings.

Bethany chased Bonser from the hill in the top of the seventh with two more runs. Dixon struck out two to stop the bleeding at 5-2.

Riverland rallied as it did in the first game, getting a leadoff home run from Geisler, who was 0-for-7 on the day until that at-bat.

Down 5-3, pinch-hitting Highum reached with a fielder's choice and was replaced at first by Ryan Wiechmann. Vollbrecht shot a triple through the gap in right-center field, and Walerak continued his hot hitting with an RBI-single to tie the game.

Morrison got on with an error, but Metzger rose to the challenge of stopping Haugen's hitting spree with the game on the line.

"I had six hits today, but none of them came when we really needed them," Haugen said.

Metzger put Haugen in the books as his eighth strikeout victim to send the game into extra innings, where a bloop two-out double plated the game-winning runs. Jake Krier simply put the bat on the ball with two outs and two men on with a two-strike count, looping Dixon's offering down the left-field line.

"They got the bat on the ball, and there were situations when we didn't get the bat on the ball when we needed to," Koenigs said. "That makes eight ballgames we've lost in the last inning this year."

Riverland had hitters go down on strikes as the third out in five of eight innings of Sunday's nightcap.

The Devils (9-15, 9-11) have two doubleheaders remaining on their regular-season schedule, starting Friday at North Hennepin at 2 p.m. and finishing Saturday at home at 1 p.m. against Anoka-Ramsey.

Box Scores:

Game One

Bethany LutheranRiverland

abrhbiabrhbi

Anderson rf4221Vollbrecht ss3100

Lane ss5001Walerak 2b3121

Dushane 3b3332Morrison lf4111

Cowell dh4100Haugen p4141

Reinarts c2022Geisler cf4100

Mulvihill 1b2000Bonser 3b4123

Hckmn ph3000Highum rf4011

Hcknmllr lf3310Ripley 1b4010

Mielke 2b3310Dixon c3110

Hagen cf2000

Totals29986Totals337127

Bethany1114110--981

Riverland0000016--7124

Team LOB--Bethany 8, Riverland 9. DP--Bethany 1. 2B--Dushane 2, Mielke, Highum. HR--Bonser. S--Hagen. SF--Reinarts. SB--Anderson, Mielke.

IPHRERBBSO

Bethany Lutheran

Stolt W661125

Larson044400

Woodward S122201

Riverland

Haugen L,2-4789576

PB--Dixon 3, Reinarts 2.

Game Two

Bethany LutheranRiverland

abrhbiabrhbi

Anderson rf4000Vollbrecht ss4121

Lane ss4010Walerak 2b4111

Dushane 3b5010Morrison lf3100

Cowell 1b4120Haugen c4021

Greibrok pr0000Bonser p3010

Reinarts c4000

Dixon p1000

Jerdee cr0200Geisler cf4111

Krier dh3112Peterson 3b3000

Hcknmllr lf5121Ripley 1b3000

Mielke 2b2121Wiechmann rf2100

Mears ph0000Highum ph1000

Hagen cf3100

Mlvhll ph1012

Totals357106Totals33574

Bethany00000322--7103

Riverland20000030--571

Team LOB--Bethany 12, Riverland 6. DP--Riverland 1. 2B--Krier, Mulvihill. 3B--Vollbrecht. HR--Geisler. SB--Morrison. CS--Haugen.

IPHRERBBSO

Bethany Lutheran

Metzger775328

Woodward W100031

Riverland

Bonser6 1/375471

Dixon L1 2/332204

WP--Metzger, Bonser. PB--Reinarts 1. HBP--Mears (by Bonser). Picked off--Dixon (by Metzger).