May 26, 2006

Final Stats

LAS VEGAS - Fourth-seeded UNLV (29-29) survived in the late hours of the night, beating fifth-seeded New Mexico (30-29) 8-6 in an elimination game Thursday night in the Mountain West Conference Tournament at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. The start of the game was pushed back more than two hours and did not finish until 12:34 a.m. (PDT) Friday morning.

The Rebels will now face BYU on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. with the winner advancing to championship Saturday to face TCU for the MWC title. The championship game will start at 3:00 p.m. and if the Horned Frogs win they will win the title, but if they lose there will be another game at 7:00 p.m.

With the scored tied at six after six innings, UNLV took the lead in the seventh on three consecutive singles by CJ Lang, Keith Smith and Chris Bonnell that gave the Rebels a 7-6 lead and put runners at the corners with no out. Chad Miller drove in Smith for an insurance run with a sacrifice fly that pushed the margin to 8-6 heading into the final two innings.

Jabe Beard then came in out of the bullpen for the Rebels and closed it out, tossing two scoreless innings of relief to pick up his sixth save of the season. Eric Brock (2-0) worked 1.2 scoreless innings of relief to earn the win and Brandon Hewett (0-2) took the loss, as he gave up three runs over the final three innings of the game.

UNM second baseman Jordan Pacheco began the game with a lead off walk, moved to second on a single by Chris Carlson and then scored when Rebel shortstop Mike Cruz misplayed a ground ball, giving the Lobos a 1-0 lead. The Rebels then knotted the score at one on a double by Bonnell which scored C.J. Lang from first base.

That would be the beginning of a back-and-forth game between the two teams, as both teams battled in the late hours of the night to stave off elimination from the tournament.

UNLV took its first lead of the night in the bottom of the second inning, scoring a pair of runs on a run-scoring bunt single by Ryan Bird and then a sacrifice fly by Albert Zerega Jr. that made the score 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second. That lead would be short lived, as the Lobos plated three runs in the top half of the third inning on a run-scoring singles by Ian Hollick and Jay Russell and then Russell scored on a ground out for a 4-3 Lobo lead.

It did not take UNLV long to retake the lead as after Lang drew a walk, Smith hit his 14th home run to center field that gave the Rebels a 5-4 lead after three innings of play.

UNM tied the game again in the of the fourth inning when Jordan Pacheco scored on a sacrifice fly and then the Lobos retook the lead in the top of the sixth when Chris Dabbs scored on a single by Ryan Barba that was then misplayed by Rebel leftfielder Zach Borba, allowing Dabbs to score. Borba redeemed himself in the bottom of the frame though, hitting his first home run of the year to once again tie the game, this time at six.

UNM starter Darren Coltrinari worked five innings, giving up five runs on six hits and walking one before turning it over to Hewett. Rebel starter Ryan Tabor lasted 5.1 innings in his start, giving up six runs as well on seven hits to go with three strikeouts and four walks.

Lang finished the night going 2-3 with three runs scored to pace the Rebel offense while Bonnell had three hits and drove in a pair of runs. Barba went 2-5 with an RBI and a run scored and Hollick added two hits as well.