April 14, 2002

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - San Diego State completed the three-game sweep over UNLV with a 6-4 victory on Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The loss drops the Rebels to 17-21 overall, 5-10 in Mountain West Conference play. The Aztecs improve to 29-12 overall and remain the top team in the conference at 11-3.

The Rebels, who never led in the game, scored all four of their runs in the fifth inning. Garett Shitanishi reached base on a bunt to third and was driven home by a James Nepa double to left field. Steve Goldberg followed with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

A Ryan Ruiz sacrifice-fly to center field scored Nepa for the Rebels' second run. Joe Wickman singled through the right side, scoring Goldberg. He would later score on a Brent Johnson double to left center.

Starter Jared Bonnell (3-3) picked up the loss for the Rebels. He pitched 3.2 innings, giving up five runs on eight hits with three strikeouts. Giovanni Pupo and Jeremy Weinberg combined to finish the game. Pupo gave up one run on one hit in 2.1 innings of work, while Weinberg shut down the Aztecs in the final two innings. He gave up only one hit with two strikeouts.

SDSU's Joe Carque (5-1) earned the win. He pitched 5.2 innings, giving up four runs on six hits. Royce Ring, the nation's leader in saves, pitched the final inning for his eleventh of the season.

The Rebels managed only six hits in the ballgame and spread them throughout the order. Wickman, Johnson, Shitanishi, Nepa, Goldberg and Tony Schuler all finished with a single hit.

The Aztecs were led by Jake McLintock who finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored.

UNLV returns home for a two-game set with Southern Utah before traveling to Salt Lake City for a three-game series with Utah. The Rebels take on the Thunderbirds on Tuesday and Wednesday nights with both games set for 6:30 p.m. starts.