April 17, 2002

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV baseball team scored seven runs in the first inning and parlayed the early lead into a 16-2 seven-inning victory over Southern Utah on Wednesday night. With the win, the Rebels improve to 19-21 on the season, while the Thunderbirds fall to 5-25.

The Rebels hit three home runs in the opening inning and jumped out to an early 10-0 lead. The Thunderbirds posted two runs in the fourth, which the Rebels countered with six runs in the fifth for the eventual 16-2 final.

Ten Rebels finished with at least one hit in the game, led by David Trujillo, who finished 3-for-3 for two RBIs and two runs scored. Jason Reuss and Garett Shitanishi both homered in the contest and drove in four runs each.

David Seccombe (2-1) picked up the win. He pitched 3.0 scoreless innings, giving up only one hit with five strikeouts. Jason Guerra, Giovanni Pupo, Ben Scheinbaum and Joe Maruffi each went a single inning to finish the game.

SUU's Steven Stoker (0-4) earned the loss. He gave up ten runs on eight hits in 1.2 innings of work. Only seven the ten runs were earned.

UNLV begins a ten-game road trip with a three-game series at Utah beginning on Friday at 11 a.m.