May 24, 2002

PROVO, Utah - The UNLV baseball team's season came to an end at the hands of BYU in an 8-7 loss on Friday night in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. In the double elimination tourney, the Rebels won two games over No. 2 seed Utah, but narrowly lost both match-ups with third-seeded BYU.

UNLV took a 7-0 lead into the seventh inning behind the strong arm of David Seccombe. He pitched six shutout innings before the Cougar bats came alive for an eight-run seventh inning. Seccombe was credited with five runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts.

Reliever Chad Harris (3-1) gave up the remaining three runs on one hit with two walks and a wild pitch. Jeremy Weinberg finished the game, giving up a single hit.

BYU's Jacob Christman (1-2) picked up the win. He went 3.1 innings, giving up two runs on five hits.

David Trujillo connected for his fifth home run of the tournament, extending the MWC Tournament record he set in the early game Friday. The previous record of three home runs in a league tournament was held by Utah's Chris Shelton. Trujillo finished the game 1-for-5 with two RBIs and one run scored.

MWC Freshman of the Year Joe Wickman went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Ryan Ruiz finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs scored. He was hit by a pitch twice in the game.

Eric Nielsen and Tony Schuler added a pair of hits each. Nielsen went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Schuler went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Robert VanKirk and Jason Reuss contributed a single hit each.

"It wasn't meant to be," said UNLV head coach Jim Schlossnagle. "A guy gives you outstanding pitching, but they did a great job battling back and playing. That's why we play nine, not five. We battled and played our best."

UNLV finishes the season 30-30, seven games better than the previous season (23-33). BYU advances to play San Diego State on Saturday at 3 p.m., with a second game at 7 p.m. if necessary.