May 23, 2003

Box Score

ALBUQUERQUE - The 18th-ranked and top-seeded UNLV baseball team cruised into the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship game with a 13-1 victory over San Diego State on Thursday.

The win improves the Rebels to 44-15 on the season and advances the team to the championship game at 2 p.m. PT on Saturday. Having won all three games thus far, the Rebels would have to lose twice on Saturday to be denied the conference title. A win would give the Rebels their first MWC Tournament championship and first tournament title since winning the Big West Conference Tournament in 1996.

The Aztecs fall to 28-31 and at 7 tonight will play the winner of BYU vs. Utah.

In three games, the Rebels have outscored their opponents 35-7 and are on pace to set a conference tournament record for average margin of victory.

Jake Vose (8-4) picked up the win for the Rebels. He gave up only one run off four hits in a complete-game victory.

SDSU's Ben Coon (5-5) suffered the loss. He gave up eight runs in 3.1 innings of work.

Patrick Dobson hit his second three-run home run in as many games, breaking a scoreless tie in the third inning. Dobson set a pair of MWC Tournament records with six RBI in the game and 12 for the tournament. He finished the game 3-for-4, a double away from the cycle.

Fernando Valenzuela matched Dobson with a three-run home run of his own in the fourth inning. It was his team-leading 14th of the season. He finished the game 1-for-4.

Robert VanKirk hit a grand slam in the eighth inning, the first in MWC Tournament history. He finished the game 4-for-5 with 4 RBI and 4 runs scored.

Eric Nielsen went 3-for-4 with one run scored and Garett Shitanishi finished the game 2-for-6 with two runs scored.

UNLV is expected to throw senior LHP Giovanni Pupo in Saturday's final. Fans can listen to game on KSHP 1400 at 1:55 p.m. (PT).