Feb. 28, 2006
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS - UNLV baseball took advantage of three errors in the eighth inning by UC Irvine to plate five runs as the Rebels came from behind Tuesday night for a 10-7 victory at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.
Trailing 7-5 heading into the bottom of the frame after the Anteaters had scored three runs in their half of the inning, Rebel outfielder Blake Gailen came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. Gailen hit a ground ball to UCI second baseman Josh Tavelli, who misplayed it, allowing two runs to score, knotting the game at seven. Chris Bonnell then hit a roller to third base that Taylor Holiday overthrew to first, bringing home two more Rebel runs to make the score 9-7. Efren Navarro Jr. capped the scoring for UNLV with an RBI single that pushed the margin to 10-7.
Xavier Scruggs (1-0) picked up the win for the Rebels, who improved to 4-8 after winning their third-straight home game. Koji Pupo got the last two outs for his first save of the season and the first of the junior's career. Dylan Axelrod (1-2) took the loss for UCI which saw its five-game winning streak snapped in dropping to 9-6.
The game was originally scheduled to be played in Irvine, Calif., but rainy weather forced the game to be moved to Las Vegas.
UNLV used back-to-back doubles by Ryan Bird and Braden Walker to score the game's first run in the second inning and later Albert Zerega Jr. hit an RBI single that put UNLV up 2-0. UCI tied the game but the Rebels regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth, scoring three runs to go up 5-2. Zerega Jr. had an RBI double in the frame to start the scoring and then Gailen and Bonnell hit back-to-back doubles.
Cody Cipriano hit a solo home run to lead off the fifth for the Anteaters and they added another run in the inning on an RBI single by Tyler Vaughn that made it a 5-4 ball game. They then scored three runs in the eighth for a two-run lead setting up the Rebels' rally.
Zerega Jr., Gailen and Bonnell all went 2-4 on the evening while Gailen and Walker each scored a pair of runs. The Rebels finished the game with 11 hits and committed three errors. UCI had 12 hits and also made three errors, all of them coming in the eighth inning.
UNLV remains at home, hosting defending national champion Texas in a three-game series that begins this Friday at 6:30 p.m. (PST) at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.
