Lincoln, Neb.-Vito Chiaravalloti belted a one-out grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning to snap a 2-2 tie to give the Richmond Spiders a 6-2 win over the Nebraska baseball team and force a decisive game three in the NCAA Super Regional at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park in Lincoln on Saturday afternoon.

Chiaravalloti smashed a 2-2 pitch from Nebraska reliever Steve Hale over the left field berm to help Richmond even the best-of-three Super Regional series with the Huskers at one win apiece while improving to 53-12 on the season. The Huskers slipped to 46-19 overall, while seeing their 10-game home winning streak come to an end.

The dramatic home run hushed Nebraska's raucus school-record crowd of 8,481 and made a winner of Spider starter Thomas Martin, who improved to 8-0 on the year by tossing Richmond's second consecutive complete game in the series.

Martin, a sophomore left-hander, handcuffed the Huskers through the first six innings, holding Nebraska to just two hits while Richmond carried a 2-0 lead into the seventh. Nebraska finally got to Martin in the seventh on Jeff Blevins' two-run homer to left.

After Blevins' sixth homer of the year and second of the NCAA Tournament, Martin settled back down and retired the final eight Huskers in order to end a 102-pitch performance. Martin surrendered just four hits and walked only the Husker leadoff hitter Jeff Leise in the top of the first inning, while striking out eight. The four hits were a season low for the Huskers.

Chiaravalloti's 23rd home run of the season also spoiled a strong outing by freshman Brian Duensing, who held the Spiders in check for five innings in relief of starter Aaron Marsden. Duensing allowed just three hits in five innings, after coming on with one out, a run in and a runner on second base in the bottom of the fourth. Duensing left the runner stranded at second to keep the Huskers within striking distance at 2-0.

Despite the strong outing, Duensing fell to 6-2 on the year by giving up a leadoff single to A.J. Board to start the ninth. Bryan Pritz followed with a sacrifice bunt, to set up an intentional walk to David Reaver to give NU chance at an inning-ending double play. But Duensing uncorked a wild pitch on his second pitch to Matt Craig allowing the runners to move up to second and third. Duensing then intentionally walked Craig to load the bases, before Hale came on in relief and surrendered the home run.

Richmond jumped to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after a leadoff walk to Pritz was followed by consecutive one-out singles by Craig and Chiaravalloti. The Spiders added a run in the fourth inning on Board's one-out RBI double to left scored Chris Dolan, who had singled to start the rally. Dolan's base hit was followed by a sacrifice bunt by Bobby LeNoir who was tagged out by Husker first baseman Matt Hopper to advance Dolan to second base.

Hopper, Nebraska's cleanup hitter, immediately grabbed his left hand in pain after making the tag. Hopper left the game with a strained thumb and is questionable for Sunday's game.

Josh Birmingham replaced Hopper in the fourth, and started NU's rally in the seventh with a one-out single, before Blevins homered to tie the score. Joe Simokaitis and Jed Morris were the only other Huskers to manage hits on the day.

Chiaravalotti finished the day 3-for-5 with one run scored and five RBIs to lead the Spiders, while Board added three hits and an RBI to pace a 10-hit Richmond attack. Dolan added two hits, while Craig and Adam Tidball both pitched in singles for the Spiders.

Junior left-hander Jamie Rodrigue (7-3, 4.03 ERA) is expected to start for the Huskers, while Richmond will counter with junior right-hander Mike McGirr (12-1, 3.76 ERA) on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

Nebraska Notes
*- The Hawks Field at Haymarket Park crowd of 8,481 was the largest home crowd to witness a Nebraska baseball game. Saturday's attendance surpassed the 8,474 fans who attended Friday's game. It was also the largest crowd in Haymarket Park history for either a professional or college game.

*- The loss was Nebraska's first home loss in 10 NCAA Tournament games. Nebraska is 9-1 at home and 4-1 at Hawks Field. NU is 6-0 at home in NCAA Regional play and 3-1 at home in Super Regional action.

- The Spiders' run in the first inning was the second time in 28 games that the Huskers have allowed a first-inning run dating back to April 19.

*- The loss marked the ninth time this season that the Huskers had lost a game on the opponent's last at bat.

*-Nebraska's loss to Richmond was just the second loss in the last 17 games for the Huskers and first home loss in 11 games, dating back to a 9-4 loss to Wichita State on April 30.

*- The four hits by Nebraska was its lowest total of the season (5 vs. Texas Tech, March 23; 5 at Texas, May 4).

*- Nebraska has scored at least one run in 262 straight games, the second-longest active streak in college baseball.

*- Husker reliever Steve Hale allowed his first home since April 28 (Kansas), a span of 17.2 innings. It was just the third home run allowed by Hale this season.

*- Surrendering three earned runs in the bottom of the ninth, Brian Duensing had his streak of 11.2 scoreless innings of relief snapped. Duensing allowed just six hits during that span.

*- With an infield single in the fourth inning, Jed Morris extended his hitting streak to a career-high 18 games. Morris did have his streak of eight consecutive games with at least one RBI snapped.

*- Morris' hit was his 100th hit of the season. He becomes just the seventh Husker to record 100 or more hits in a single season.

*-Will Bolt went hitless for the first time in 20 games, watching his career-high 19-game hitting streak come to an end.

*-Matt Hopper had his 12-game hitting streak come to an end. Hopper had just two at bats before leaving the game with a strained left thumb with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning.

*- Vito Chiaravalloti's ninth-inning grand slam was his 23rd of the season, which is one shy of Richmond's school record. Chiaravalloti increased his season RBI total to 86, surpassing the previous school record of 85.

Richmond vs. Nebraska Super Regional Postgame Quotes - Game 2

Nebraska Head Coach Dave Van Horn
On the game