May 27, 2005
Final Stats
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Eric Brock gave the Rebels a gutty performance out of the bullpen but a four-run inning by BYU broke open a tight game and gave the Cougars a 7-2 win Friday afternoon in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
With the loss the Rebels dropped to 31-27 on the year and were forced to turnaround and play San Diego State on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. (PT) in an elimination game for a spot in Saturday's championship game. BYU improved to 39-17-1 on the season and advanced to the MWC Championship game which will be at 2:00 p.m. at Franklin Covey Field.
The Rebels began the eighth trailing by just a run at 3-2, but when it was over they faced a 7-2 deficit they could not over come.
The inning started with Brock walking Apana Nakayama, who then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Kyle Tabeek then came in to relieve Brock and the right-hander uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Nakayama to go to third and then Tabeek walked Brandon Taylor to put runners on the corners. Taylor stole second to take away the chance at a double play and Ben Saylor then hit a single that scored Nakayama to put the Cougars up 4-2.
Kory Knell drove in his second run of the game on a deep sacrifice fly to center field and then Casey Cloward laced a two-run double to the right-field corner that put the game out of reach at 7-2.
UNLV starter Efren Navarro Jr. lasted just two innings as the freshman left-hander could not get anyone out to start the third inning. After giving up solo home runs to Saylor and Knell in the second for the game's first two runs, Navarro Jr. left the game in the top of third after loading the bases with no outs, turning the game over to the Rebel bullpen.
Brock came out of the pen and got Cougar third baseman Brandon Taylor to ground into a double play that pushed one run across the plate to make the score 3-0. Brock then got Saylor to hit into a ground out to end the inning.
UNLV stayed in the game behind the strong performance of Brock, who kept the Cougars off of the scoreboard entering the eighth inning as he gave up just five hits and one run over 5.1 innings of work before leaving in the pivotal frame.
The Rebels scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the third as Matt Fry led off the inning with a double and he was then driven in on a single by JC Sibley, cutting the BYU lead to 3-1. Mike Cruz moved the Rebels closer in the bottom of the fifth, drilling a 2-2 pitch from BYU starter Dave Horlacher over the left field fence for a solo home run to move the score to 3-2.
Cruz had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh with Sibley on second base with two outs and faced a 2-2 count against Horlacher. The BYU starter threw a high fastball that Cruz chased, ending the inning. Horlacher tossed a complete game, throwing 134 pitches and limiting the Rebels to two runs on seven hits while striking out three.
TOURNAMENT NOTES: -UNLV dropped to 0-4 against the BYU in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. In the 2001 MWC Tournament the Cougars beat the Rebels 10-9 and the two teams played each other twice in the 2002 championship, with BYU winning both games 13-11 and 8-7. The second time the two teams played in 2002 was for the MWC Championship.
-Friday's loss snapped a streak on nine consecutive MWC Tournament wins for the Rebels, who won four games in both the 2003 and 2004 tournaments on their way to winning the league crowns both years. They started this year's tournament with a 5-3 win over Utah on Thursday. UNLV's last loss in the tournament before Friday's loss was an 8-7 defeat at the hands of the Cougars back on May 24, 2002.
