April 30, 2005

Final Stats

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - UNLV baseball came from behind with a seven-run rally in the sixth inning to beat San Diego State 17-14 on Saturday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium, evening the three-game series at one game each.

The two teams combined for 36 hits on the afternoon that led to 31 runs, but only one of those hits was a home run, which was a solo shot off the bat of Rebel catcher Justin Tellam.

With the win the Rebels moved to 21-24 on the year, 15-5 in the Mountain West Conference, three games ahead of the third-place Aztecs. SDSU is now 18-26 overall, 12-8 in league play.

UNLV led 5-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning but the Aztecs grabbed the lead by scoring six runs in the frame. During the rally the Aztecs scored two runs on a single by Grant Desme that pushed two runs across the plate and also added runs on a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch by Wayne Foltin that allowed another run to score.

The Rebels came back though in the top of the sixth to regain the lead for good with the seven-run inning, scoring all the runs with two outs and sending 13 men to the plate during the frame. At one point UNLV had seven straight at-bats that resulted in a hit and the rally gave UNLV a 12-9 lead.

UNLV added a run in the seventh, three in the eighth and another in the ninth while the Aztecs scored a run in the eighth and three in the ninth to cap the scoring.

Alex Chalfant earned the win in relief for the Rebels for his first decision of the year. Will Miller (0-3) took the loss for the Aztecs.

Mike Cruz had a strong day at the plate for the Rebels, going 4-6 with a RBI and two runs scored. Chris Bonnell drove in three runs for UNLV and the home run was Tellam's team-leading 12th of the year.

The two teams wrap up the series on Sunday with the game scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. (PT) in San Diego.