March 11, 2001

LAS VEGAS - UNLV moved to 3-0 in Mountain West Conference play with a 10-9 victory over Air Force on Sunday. The Rebels, winners of five straight, improve to 11-11 on the season. The Falcons fall to 13-10 overall.

The Rebels were down two runs, 9-7, heading into the bottom of the ninth. Jason Reuss led off the inning with a walk. John Cruz pinch-ran for Reuss and advanced to third on a Joe Jacobitz single to right field.

Brad Hertel flew out to right field followed by a George Fletcher strikeout to put UNLV down two outs with two men on.

Ryan Ruiz reached first on an error by the shortstop, scoring both Jacobitz and Cruz to tie the game. Garett Shitanishi followed with the game-winning single to score Ruiz from second.

Doug Thornton, who came in to pitch the final out in the top of the ninth, picked up his first win of the season. He faced only one batter, a strikeout.

Air Force's Kiwedin Cornell (1-1) pitched the final 1.1 innings to pick up the loss.

Ryan Olson, UNLV's top pitcher heading into the season, made his first appearance on the mound. He pitched three innings and gave up five runs on seven hits.

Jacobitz, Shitanishi and Brent Johnson all finished the game 2-for-5 from the plate. Reuss went 2-for-3 with one RBI.

Air Force was led by Nelson Prouty who finished the game 3-for-5 with two runs scored.

UNLV takes on Nevada, Reno at 3:05 p.m. on Monday.