Feb. 13, 2000

Box Score

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV baseball team, down 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth inning, left the tying run at third base as UCLA turned a double play to end the game and preserve a 6-5 win at Wilson Stadium Sunday.

A fielding error allowed Rebel leadoff hitter Garett Shitanishi aboard, and a Tony DeMarco single put runners at the corners with one out. Right fielder Nate Kaup wan unable to drive the tying run home, however, as he grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

The game was the finale of a three-game set between UNLV (3-5) and No. 3 UCLA (6-1), who suffered its first setback of the season to UNLV in the series opener on Friday, 21-5.

UNLV took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth when catcher Harold Betts homered with a man on to put the Rebels up, 3-2. It was Betts second long ball of the series.

The Bruins rebounded in the sixth, taking advantage of starting pitcher Luke Anderson, who tired and allowed UCLA three runs on a triple and two singles. The Bruins added a fourth run in the inning off C.J. Martin to take a 6-3 lead.

The Rebels patiently chipped away at the lead, getting a run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Zach Strong. They scored one more run in the seventh on a Nate Kaup single, but left two runners on to end the inning.

Down 6-5, UNLV put itself in position to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat, or at least force extra innings as the game went into the ninth.

After taking the series opener, UNLV dropped the last two games of the set.

The Rebels will play two more games at home before hitting the road for the first time this season. They host Lewis-Clark State College on Tuesday and Wednesday before heading to California for a three-game series with No. 5 Cal State Fullerton and a single game against No. 6 Southern California.