April 29, 2005

Final Stats

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - UNLV baseball lost the opening game of its three-game series with San Diego State 7-3 as the Rebels opened their nine-game road trip with a loss at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

The Rebels dropped to 20-24 on the year, 14-5 in Mountain West Conference play, falling out of a tie for first place in the league standings with BYU. SDSU moved to 18-25 overall, 12-7 overall in the league, two games behind the Rebels. Matt Luca took the loss for the Rebels, dropping to 3-6 on the year. Alex Hinshaw earned the win for the Aztecs and moved his record to 5-6.

San Diego State scored the first two runs of the game to grab the lead as the Aztecs got a RBI groundout in the first and then Grant Desme hit a RBI single to left in the second inning.

UNLV came back to grab a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth, scoring three runs in the frame.

Justin Tellam hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the first Rebel run and then Ryan Bird followed with his third home run of the year. Bird laced a two-run shot that scored Chris Bonnell that gave the Rebels a one-run lead.

The lead would be short-lived as the Aztecs scored two runs in the bottom of the frame.

Quintin Berry hit a RBI single that drove in Desme and then James Guerrero hit a single that scored Berry that gave SDSU a 4-3 lead that they would not give up.

Luca left after the fourth inning and he was charged with four runs, all earned as he struck out three in the loss. SDSU scored three more runs off the Rebels' bullpen, plating a run in the seventh and then two in the eighth.

UNLV continues its series with SDSU on Saturday as the second game of the series is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. (PT). Koji Pupo is scheduled to start for the Rebels and he will square off against Bruce Billings of SDSU.