LINCOLN -- Northern Iowa put a premature end to BYU's baseball season with a 10-1 victory Saturday at Buck Beltzer Field before 1,170 fans, not counting Cornhusker faithful lined up outside the gates readying for an afternoon sellout.

The Cougars end their season with a 38-22 record following the NCAA Regionals. A stalwart Panther defense backed pitcher Micah Green to stop what was otherwise an outstanding year for the Mountain West Conference champions who were picked to finish third. Green went the distance and limited BYU to six hits in three of the nine innings.

"Green pitched a fantastic game and kept a powerful offense off-stride," said UNI Coach Rick Heller, who also lauded the play of his centerfielder Andrew Buckley. "If he (Buckley) doesn't make those plays it might have been a different ball game."

Buckley made a leaping catch on Seth King's lead-off blast, the best shot the senior tri-captain had of maintaining his 17-game hitting streak. Then second baseman Marty Sutherland fielded the ball off Tim Law's bat and threw across his body for the out. And Green ended the inning by covering first base in time to put out Michael Davies.

"Their defense in the fifth inning was the turning point," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "We could have easily had one run in and two men on."

BYU tried to rebound in the sixth when it had the bases loaded with one out, but could only muster one run when its Hawai'ian connection teamed up on a sacrifice fly by Kainoa Obrey to score Doug Jackson.

UNI's Buckley made a diving catch on Jackson's fly and again on Matt Carson's blast that went to the fence in the eighth inning. The Panthers recorded the first of three double plays in the first three innings starting with Shane Belliston striking out and Jackson was caught stealing second.

Obrey kept his 12-game hitting streak alive with a lead-off single in the second, followed by Jeff Hiestand's single, but a double play ended that inning. BYU got a pair of singles in the third by Cameron Coughlan and Jackson, only to be foiled again by a double play.

The Cougars got a valiant effort from lefty Jeff Stone on the mound in the windy morning. Two interference calls against the Panthers helped as did the play of Carson. Carson made a diving catch in the first and respect for his throwing arm from right field perhaps saved a run in the third.

Stone struck out Seth Patterson with the bases loaded before Sutherland flew out to Carson to end the third. Those bases were loaded from back-to-back one-out singles and an intentional walk of All-American Ryan Brunner.

Brunner hit one of three homers for UNI. The first was a solo by James Simon in the second. Then Brunner's solo started a four-run barrage in the seventh. And Aaron McEachran collected three of his four RBI off an eighth-inning homer.

"I tried to work the inside of the plate, but a lot of the breaks went their way," said Stone. "They battled, made some outstanding plays and broke our hearts."

Brunner and McEachran's homers were their 88th hits of the season, to the delight of several fans clad in purple "Brew Crew" T-shirts.

"Despite this disappointment, it shouldn't diminish what a great year we have had against some of the top teams in the country," said Law. "I feel badly people in the Midwest didn't get to see the way the Cougars could play. We were coming off an emotional loss last night and I'm surprised we didn't score more runs."

The Automated ScoreBook

Brigham Young Univ. vs Northern Iowa

May 26, 2001 at Lincoln, Nebraska (Buck Beltzer Field)

Brigham Young Univ. 1 (38-22)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

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JACKSON, Doug lf......... 3 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0

BELLISTON, Shane cf...... 2 0 0 0 2 1 3 0 1

CARSON, Matt rf.......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 1

OBREY, Kainoa 3b......... 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 3 0

HIESTAND, Jeff dh........ 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2

KING, Seth ss............ 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0

LAW, Tim 1b.............. 3 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 1

DAVIES, Michael c........ 3 0 0 0 0 0 8 2 0

COUGHLAN, Cameron 2b..... 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0

STONE, Jeff p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

SU'A, Justin p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

RAY, James p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals................... 29 1 6 1 3 2 24 9 5

Northern Iowa 10 (35-27)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

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Willie Durazo c.......... 5 2 2 0 0 0 2 1 1

Travis Welsch ss......... 5 0 2 0 0 0 6 5 0

Ryan Brunner rf.......... 3 3 1 1 2 0 2 0 0

Aaron McEachran 3b....... 5 2 3 4 0 1 1 0 1

Seth Patterson lf........ 5 1 3 1 0 2 3 0 0

Marty Sutherland 2b...... 4 1 1 1 0 0 1 3 3

Jason Simon 1b........... 4 1 3 3 0 0 7 2 0

Adam Boeve dh............ 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0

Brady Weber ph.......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

Andrew Buckley cf........ 3 0 0 0 1 2 4 0 1

Micah Green p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

Totals................... 38 10 15 10 3 8 27 11 7

Score by Innings R H E

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Brigham Young Univ.. 000 001 000 - 1 6 1

Northern Iowa....... 011 010 43X - 10 15 0

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E - LAW(4). DP - Cougars 1; Panthers 3. LOB - Cougars 5; Panthers 7. 2B -

Sutherland(18). HR - Brunner(25); McEachran(9); Simon(5). SF - OBREY(3). CS

- JACKSON(4).

Brigham Young Univ. IP H R ER BB SO AB BF

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STONE, Jeff......... 6.2 11 6 5 3 6 29 32

SU'A, Justin........ 0.0 2 1 1 0 0 2 2

RAY, James.......... 1.1 2 3 0 0 2 7 7

Northern Iowa IP H R ER BB SO AB BF

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Micah Green......... 9.0 6 1 1 3 2 29 33

Win - Green (7-2). Loss - STONE (5-5). Save - None.

WP - Green(5). PB - DAVIES(5).

Umpires - Home:Randy Dulin 1st:Bruce Ravan 2nd:Steve Manders 3rd:Ray Belfiore

Start: 11:00 Time: 2:13 Attendance: 1,170

Game notes:

Game 3 NCAA Lincoln Regional

SU'A faced 2 batters in the 7th.