May 24, 2002
PROVO, Utah - The UNLV baseball team advanced in the MWC Tournament with a 13-7 victory over second seeded Utah. With the win, the Rebels advance to a 6 p.m. rematch with BYU. The Utes are eliminated after their second tournament loss, both to UNLV.
UNLV used a pair of solo home runs from Ryan Ruiz and David Trujillo to take a 2-0 lead in the opening inning and never trailed. The Rebels scored 12 runs on 17 hits and played an errorless game.
UNLV starter Giovanni Pupo (3-4) picks up the win. He went 5.2 innings, giving up seven runs on 11 hits. Jake Gann relieved Pupo for a third of an inning. Jeremy Weinberg threw 2.0 innings without giving up a hit. Joe Maruffi finished the game.
Cheyenne Rushton (8-6) is credited with the loss. He gave up eight runs on eight hits in 3.2 innings.
Robert VanKirk and Ryan Ruiz contributed three hits each. VanKirk went 3-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored, while Ruiz went 3-for-5 with one RBI and three runs scored.
David Trujillo went 2-for-4 with two home runs and set the MWC record for home runs in tournament play with his third and fourth of the tournament.
Brent Johnson padded the UNLV single season doubles record by hitting his 30th of the season. He finished the game 1-for-5.
Jason Reuss went 2-for-5 with one RBI and one run scored. Eric Nielsen and James Wickman also contributed a pair of hits in the contest. Wickman extended his conference-leading hitting streak to 21 games.
"We strung enough quality hits together," said UNLV head coach Jim Schlossnagle. "Trujillo continues to play well against Utah. We had good starting pitching, but I felt I left him in a little too long. Overall though, the pitching was good. We're just trying to stay alive. We're doing everything we can to make it to the next day. BYU's a physical team. They are a veteran team. They had a disappointing loss this morning, so it will be interesting to see how they come out."
UNLV plays BYU in an elimination game at 6 p.m. PST on Friday to see who will advance to the Saturday championship with San Diego State. The Aztecs have not lost a game in the tournament.
