April 25, 2003

Box Score

LAS VEGAS - The 20th-ranked UNLV baseball team defeated BYU on Friday night 5-4 at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. With the win, the Rebels improve to 34-12, 17-3 in Mountain West Conference play. The Cougars fall to 19-19, 11-9 in league play.

UNLV now holds a five-game lead in the Mountain West Conference standings over second-place San Diego State. The Rebels took a four-game lead into the weekend, but have played one more game than the Aztecs who defeated Air Force in the first game of a three-game series on Friday.

Junior Robbie Van (5-4) picked up the win Rebels. He gave up four runs off six hit in 7.2 innings of work. He walked only one batter and struck out a career-high 13, two shy of the school record.

Ryan Bruan finished the final 1.1 innings with two hits and two strikeouts to earn his sixth save.

BYU's Paul Jacinto (6-5) earned the loss. He threw 8.0 innings, giving up five runs off eight hits.

The Rebels scattered eight hits in the game. Fernando Valenzuela went 2-for-3 with one run scored. Six other Rebels contributed a single hit each. Eddie Gill hit his sixth home run of the season and finished the game 1-for-2 with four RBI.

UNLV and BYU wrap up the three-game series on Saturday at 2 p.m.