March 26, 2005
Final Stats
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - UNLV pushed five runs across the plate in the top of the eighth inning and three Rebels drove in three or more runs as the Rebels rallied for a 14-9 win over New Mexico on Saturday afternoon at Isotopes Park.
Heading into the final three innings of Saturday's league game the Rebels were trailing 7-3 but the Lobo bullpen imploded down the stretch, giving up 11 runs.
With the win the Rebels improved to 5-1 in the Mountain West Conference, 11-17 overall on the year. New Mexico dropped to 12-14 overall, 2-4 in league play. Chris Huseman earned the win for the Rebels, evening his record at 1-1. Karsten Gaardner took the loss to fall to 1-5.
The big inning for the Rebels came in the top of the eighth when trailing by just one run at 7-6, UNLV rattled off five runs to retake the lead.
Mike Cruz and Braden Walker led of the inning for UNLV by drawing walks and after a sacrifice bunt moved them to second and third the bases were loaded after CJ Lang drew the third walk off Lobo reliever Petr Pacas. The Rebels regained the lead on Ryan Kowalski's single on a full count that brought home Cruz and Walker. Zeke Parraz singled in another run and then Matt Fry doubled in two more for an 11-7 lead.
UNM got one run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a solo home run by Jordan Pacheco, his second of the game. But the Rebels scored another three runs in the top of the ninth to put the game away.
Parraz finished the game going 4-5 at the plate with five RBI and two runs scored. Kowalski and Fry each drove in two runs and CJ Lang went 3-5 and scored three runs.
The Rebels got on the board in the first inning, scoring three runs to open up the game.
Lang led off the game with a single and after a sacrifice bunt moved him to second he scored on a double by Ryan Bird. UNLV's next run was driven in on a single by Fry and then the third run of the inning was pushed across on a single by Chris Bonnell, giving the Rebels a 3-0 lead.
Their lead would be short live as the Rebels gave up five runs in the bottom of the opening frame.
UNLV starter Matt Luca got off to a rough start from the very beginning, serving up a home run Pacheco on a 1-0 count. The Lobos laced two more singles and after Luca got a strike out for the first out of the inning, he got the second out on a ground out that scored one. Luca couldn't get out of the inning though, hitting a batter before giving up back-to-back doubles to Chris Dabbs and Jeff Grady brought home three more runs giving UNM a 5-3 lead after one inning.
Luca gave up two more runs in the fifth on RBI singles by Ian Hollick and Matt Foote that knocked Luca out of the game.
In the seventh inning the Rebels scored another three runs to cut the Lobo lead to one at 7-6. Kowalski singled to score a run and then with two runners on base Parraz hit a triple that cleared the bases to bring UNLV within one.
UNLV returns home to Earl E. Wilson Stadium for a midweek game Tuesday against visiting UC Irvine at 6:30 p.m. (PST). It will be second time this year that the Rebels have played the Anteaters as UNLV beat UCI 3-2 earlier this year in Irvine.
