April 22, 2005
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS - Efren Navarro Jr. pitched well in a spot start Friday night and the Rebels ran out to an eight-run lead then held on to beat New Mexico 11-8 in front of 407 fans at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.
Matt Luca was originally scheduled to get the start, but he had a touch of the flu, which forced Navarro Jr. to make his fourth start of the year. The freshman left-hander retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced and gave up four runs, two earned in 5.2 innings to get the win, moving his record to 2-3. Kyle Tabeek got the final three outs of the game for his fourth save. Lobo starter Jason Fernandez (6-5) lasted just three innings before turning things over to UNM's bullpen, giving up seven runs, four earned in taking the loss.
UNLV improved to 18-22 overall, but more importantly moved to within a half-game of MWC leading BYU. The Rebels are now 12-4 in league play while the Cougars are 13-4 after losing Friday night to Utah 11-10. New Mexico dropped to 19-20 on the year, 9-7 in the MWC.
JC Sibley led off the game with a single for the Rebels, and after a wild pitch from Fernandez and a ground out moved Sibley to third, he later scored the first run of the game on another Fernandez wild pitch.
After a scoreless second, UNLV erupted for six runs in the third to grab a 7-0 lead after three innings.
Mike Cruz hit an RBI single for the first run of the frame, and he was followed by an RBI single from Zeke Parraz and then a two-run double by Chris Bonnell. Ryan Bird then got into the act with a run-scoring double of his own and Matt Fry capped the inning with an RBI single.
UNM started to chip away at the lead, plating a run in the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Nick Carlson and Matt Foote and another pair in the in the fifth on an error that scored one and a sacrifice fly by Carlson that made the score 7-3.
UNLV responded by scoring three runs in its half of the fifth as Justin Tellam led off the inning with a single and then advanced to second on an error. Matt Fry then reached on a fielder's choice that moved Tellam to third, who then scored on a double by CJ Lang. Sibley then hit a sacrifice fly and Parraz later hit a RBI single for a 10-3 Rebel lead.
The Lobos would make a game of though, scoring a run in the top of the sixth on a Chris Dabbs home run and then another four in the seventh to cut it to a two-run game at 10-8. In that inning Eric Brock walked three batters and gave up three of those four runs as the Rebel bullpen risked giving the game away.
Chris Huseman relieved Brock and got the Rebels out of the seventh and then Alex Chalfant worked out a jam in the eighth to preserve UNLV's lead. After he gave up a double to Ryan Barba to start the inning, Chalfant got two ground outs and then a strikeout to end the threat.
In the ninth inning Tabeek came on and also worked himself out of a jam to record the save. At one point the bases were full of Lobos with two out in the inning, but Tabeek got Barba to ground out and end the game.
Parraz finished the game with two RBI and went 2-4 at the plate and Bonnell drove in two as well.
UNLV continues its three-game series against New Mexico on Saturday afternoon with the second game set for 2:00 p.m. (PT) at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. Koji Pupo (3-0) is slated to take the mound for the Rebels against the Lobos' Danny Ray Herrera (5-2).
