March 22, 2002

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV baseball team snapped a five-game losing skid with a 16-14 victory over Utah on Friday night at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. The win was also the first in league play for the Rebels who move to 1-3 in MWC play, 11-13 overall. Utah falls to 12-12, 0-4 in the MWC.

Rebel starter Courtney Hall (1-4) picked up his first win of the season. He pitched six innings, giving up four runs on 11 hits with a season-high nine strikeouts.

Utah's Josh Wylie (3-4) earned the loss. He gave up six runs on five hits in 5.1 innings of work.

UNLV seemed to have things under control after posting 13 runs in the sixth inning, but Utah fought back with nine of its own in the eighth and one in the ninth to bring the game within two. Rebel reliever Jeremy Weinberg shut down the Utes in the final inning for his third save. Ben Scheinbaum pitched a single inning in relief for Hall. He gave up only two hits with a strikeout.

Donnie Watts gave up six earned runs during the nine-run eighth inning. He gave up four hits with two walks in 0.2 innings of work. Chad Harris finished the inning, giving up a single before recording the final out.

Ryan Ruiz led the Rebels offensively, going 4-for-6 with five RBIs and two runs scored. He was only a double away from hitting for the cycle.

Eric Nielsen finished the game 2-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored, while Tony Schuler went 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Five other Rebels contributed a single hit each.

UNLV and Utah play the second of the three-game series on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.