April 10, 2002

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV baseball team used a walk-off single from Joe Wickman, scoring Brent Johnson from third, to defeat Southern Utah 8-7 on Wednesday night at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. Wickman also had a solo homerun in the game, his first on the year. The win improved the Rebels to 17-18 on the season, while the Thunderbirds fall to 5-23.

UNLV used six pitchers in the contest, with closer Joe Maruffi (2-0) getting the win. He came in with a two run lead and left with the game tied at seven. He gave up two runs on four hits with three strikeouts.

David Seccombe pitched the opening three innings, giving up only three hits with four strikeouts. Ben Scheinbaum pitched two shutout innings with three hits. Donnie Watts went one inning with two strikeouts.

James Wickman pitched one out in seventh, giving up five runs on four hits. Four of those runs came from Southern Utah's Chris Nelson who hit a bases loaded inside the park homerun.

Giovanni Pupo relieved Wickman for 1.2 inning of hitless ball with Maruffi finishing the game.

Tony Schuler went 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Garett Shitanishi went 2-for-4, both triples, but was left stranded each time. Eric Nielsen, James Nepa and David Trujillo added a pair of hits each.

Johnson was 1-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs.

UNLV travels to San Diego State this weekend before returning home to continue the series with Southern Utah on Tuesday, April 16.