April 14, 2006
Final Stats
FORT WORTH, Texas - UNLV baseball rallied late but could not overcome an early deficit in losing to TCU 7-3 on Friday night at Lupton Stadium in a Mountain West Conference tilt.
With the loss the Rebels dropped to 16-20 on the year, 3-5 in MWC play and starter Chris Saddoris (5-5) took the loss, giving up four runs on six hits in four innings of work. TCU moved its mark to 20-16, 7-1 in league play with Jake Arrieta (8-3) picking up the win and Dillon Farish picking up his second save of the year.
UNLV struggled early on against Arrieta, who retired 15 of the first 17 batters he faced and had not allowed a hit through the first five innings of play. The Rebels finally got to him in the sixth inning, but did so without getting a hit. Michael Brenly led off the inning by drawing a walk and then the Rebel catcher moved to second on a wild pitch. Brenly took third base on a ground out and then scored UNLV's first run of the game on Arrieta's second wild pitch of the frame, making the score 4-1.
The Rebels then loaded the bases in the frame, using two walks and an infield hit by Chad Miller, the team's first of the night, bringing Braden Walker to the plate. The sophomore flew out though to end the threat.
The Horned Frogs moved its lead to 7-1, scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, using a run-scoring single and then a double to plate their runs.
In the eighth inning the Rebels once again loaded the bases, this time with one out off of TCU reliever Omar Arif and once again Walker came to the plate. Once again he flew out, but the fly ball was deep enough to score a run, moving the score to 7-2. Keith Smith then scored on an error to make the score 7-3 and with two runners on, Arif was brought in out of the bullpen. Arif got Rebel shortstop Mike Cruz to fly out to end the eighth and then struck out the side in the ninth to close the game.
UNLV finished the game with four hits and committed one error while TCU used 11 hits to score its runs and committed one error as well.
The two teams continue their series tomorrow with the first pitch slated for 12:00 p.m. (PDT) and the game will be broadcast live by KSHP 1400 AM with Jon Sandler handling the play-by-play.
