March 20, 2005

Final Stats

LAS VEGAS - UNLV's offense continued to pound away at Air Force pitching Sunday afternoon, slamming three home runs in the Rebels' 13-2 win over the Falcons in front of 346 fans at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.

Justin Tellam, Tyler Beranek and Chris Bonnell each hit solo shots and UNLV improved to 9-15, 3-0 in the Mountain West Conference with the sweep of Air Force. The Falcons fell to 4-16, 0-3 in the MWC. UNLV starter Matt Luca pitched five innings, giving up two runs on seven hits while striking out four to get the win, moving his record to 2-4. John Meyers started the game for the Falcons and took the loss to fall to 0-1, giving up six runs in just 2.2 innings.

The Falcons took their first lead of the series in the opening frame, scoring two runs off of Luca to start the game.

Falcon second baseman Geno Salazar singled with one out and then was driven home on a double by Dustin Smith to open the scoring. A single by Matt Ghigna moved Smith to third and he then scored on a sacrifice fly, making the score 2-0.

That would be all that went right for the Falcons, who got just five hits after that and had a runner past first base just three times the rest of the afternoon.

Tellam cut the deficit in half for the Rebels in the bottom of the second, lacing a line drive over the left field wall for his team-leading sixth home run of the year.

The Rebels then took control of the game in the bottom of the third.

Tyler Beranek led off the inning with a single and moved to second after Mike Cruz drew a walk. CJ Lang followed with a double, scoring Beranek to tie the game. Ryan Kowalski drew another walk to load the bases and bring Zeke Parraz to the plate. The senior short stop singled in two runs, giving the Rebels a 3-2 lead they would never give up.

After the Falcons threw out Kowalski who tried to advance to third on Parraz's single, Meyers got a ground out and appeared to be out of the inning when he got Ryan Bird to hit a weak grounder to the left side infield. The umpire ruled catcher's interference on the play, allowing Bird to advance to first, prolonging the inning. UNLV capitalized one batter latter, as Bonnell hit a single that drove in two, giving the Rebels a 6-2 lead after three innings.

UNLV added two in the fourth and then another in the fifth on Beranek's first home run of the year which sailed over the left field fence for a 9-2 UNLV lead. Beranek had a strong day at the plate, going 4-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Bonnell then drilled his third round tripper of the year in the seventh, driving a ball of the light pole in right-center field. UNLV plated three more runs in the eighth to reach double-digits in runs for the third consecutive game. In the three game series against AF, the Rebels outscored the Falcons 34-4.

For the third straight game the Rebel bullpen didn't allow a run as Efren Navarro Jr., Matt Wagner and Chris Huseman combined to pitch a near-perfect final four innings of Sunday's game. Wagner was the only pitcher to allow a hit and the trio walked one and struck out three to close the game.

UNLV remains at home for a midweek game against Loyola Marymount on Tuesday with the first pitch scheduled to be thrown at 6:30 p.m. (PST) at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.