May 20, 2006
Final Stats
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Efren Navarro Jr. hit three home runs, including two in one inning, as UNLV baseball wrapped up its regular season with an 18-4 rout of Air Force on Saturday day afternoon at Falcon Field.
With the win UNLV moved to within one game of .500 for the season at 27-28 and they completed Mountain West Conference play with a 12-10 mark. Matt Wagner (3-0) picked up the win, giving up two runs over four innings. Air Forced dropped to 10-36, 1-21 in league play with the loss, which was charged to Josh Meents (0-5).
UNLV will be the fourth seed in the upcoming Mountain West Conference Tournament and they will play either New Mexico or Utah on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. (PDT) at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.
It was a 2-2 ball game after three innings, but the UNLV offense got going in a big way as the Rebels scored the next 15 runs of the game to win going away.
Navarro Jr. got the offense going, hitting a solo home run in the top of the fourth inning to break the 2-2 tie. That was just the beginning for Navarro Jr., who added another solo home run in the seventh and then capped the eight-run inning by hitting a three-run blast that made the score 17-2. Navarro Jr. finished the game with a career-high six RBI, going 5-5 with three runs scored and the three home runs.
In between the home runs by Navarro Jr., Keith Smith hit a three-run home run to continue his torrid hitting in the series. He added two doubles in going 4-5, driving in five runs and scoring three times himself. Smith finished the series hitting 9-14 (.642) with five home runs and 17 RBI in the three games.
Following the third inning the Rebels scored three in the fourth, one in the fifth, three in the sixth and eight in the seventh before the Falcons scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth. Michael Brenly then capped the scoring with a solo home run in the top of ninth.
Nine different Rebels had at least one hit on the afternoon as they pounded out 23 hits on the afternoon. It was eighth-straight time that the Rebels have scored in double figures, all UNLV victories.
