A day after clinching a spot in the Western Athletic Conference postseason tournament, UND had an opportunity for a Western Athletic Conference series sweep against Texas-Pan American.
The sweep also would have enhanced UND's push for one of the two first-round byes in the upcoming tournament.
Instead, UND took a step back, falling 4-3 in 10 innings to UTPA on Sunday at Kraft Field.
The loss dropped UND to 12-9 in the WAC and 18-22 overall while UTPA improved to 3-17-1 and 18-27-1. Also, it was UTPA's first league road win of the season.
"We didn't do much offensively," said UND coach Jeff Dodson. "We really struggled with our approach, taking balls in the strike zone, swinging at balls out of the strike zone and not getting runners in from third base.
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"We weren't tough enough at the plate."
North Dakota had trouble at the plate but also had difficulty running the bases. In the fifth inning, UND had runners on first and third with no outs in a 2-2 game. But UND didn't score. All three of its outs came on the basepaths.
"The baserunning mistakes we made today were unacceptable," added Dodson. "It's not like we don't work on it every day. But when you get in the heat of the moment, you have to be better."
UTPA, led by Correy Davis' 3-for-5 showing, grabbed a 3-2 lead in the seventh, the go-ahead run scoring on Logan Landon's RBI double to left.
UND tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh on Jeff Campbell's RBI single. But UND left two runners on and 13 for the game.
UPTA scored the go-ahead run in the 10th on a Davis RBI double to left.
But UND had a chance for the tie or win in the bottom of the 10th. Brett Harrison walked and Zach Heaser was hit by a pitch to open the inning.
But Harrison was forced out at third on a sacrifice attempt by Ellery Bresnahan. Cooper Maas then sacrificed Heaser to third and Bresnahan to second but UTPA reliever Johnny Gonzalez struck out Dalton Parrott to end the game.
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UND's pitching again was solid as only two of UTPA's runs were earned.
"We've gotten timely hits in the games we've won," added Dodson. "We just didn't do that today."
