Feb. 25, 2007

Final Stats

LAS VEGAS - Using yet another eighth-inning rally, UNLV baseball plated a pair of runs in the frame to come back and beat No. 17 Arizona 8-6 on a blustery day at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.

Rebel junior Braden Walker had the game-winning hit, a run-scoring single to left field in the eighth which capped a 2-for-3 day that helped UNLV improve to 4-5 this year against teams ranked in the top 25. It was the fourth-straight win for the Rebels that featured an eight-inning rally after the club used two at Cal last weekend and then a two-run rally Tuesday at Loyola Marymount.

A crowd of 518 watched the Rebels overcome a 3-0 deficit after the first inning to score the game's last five runs and salvage the series against the Wildcats, who took the first two games between the clubs. UNLV moved back to .500 with the win, evening its record at 8-8 while Arizona dropped to 11-3 on the year.

After falling behind early, the Rebel bullpen kept the team in the game as Kevin Skogley, Adam Moser, Michael Goodman and Marc Baca combined to work 5.1 innings and give up just one run. Moser (3-0) worked 1.2 innings of scoreless relief to collect the win and Baca pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save of the season.

Arizona jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Bill Rhinehart and then a two-run home run by C.J. Ziegler off of Rebel starter Matt Hutchison. It was a difficult day for Hutchison, who gave up five runs on seven hits in 3.2 innings on the mound.

The Rebels put two runs of their own on the board in the bottom of the second when Jarred Frierson hit a two-run double to right field that scored Michael Brenly and Walker to cut the lead to one at 3-2. It was the first career hit for Frierson, who was also making his first career start at shortstop for the Rebels.

The Wildcats tacked on a run in the third on an RBI single by Brad Glenn that the Rebels matched in their half on run-scoring single by Brenly to make the score 4-3. The inning could have been bigger for UNLV, which had runners on second and third with no out but could not get them home.

UA added another run in the fourth and then picked up its sixth run of the game on a strange series of events in the fifth, benefiting from three Rebel errors in the frame for a 6-3 lead. Jon Gaston reached on an error by Rebel second baseman Rance Roundy and then moved to third when Roundy misplayed a fly ball and then Frierson had an errant throw back to Brenly who was at the mound. Gaston then scored on a sacrifice fly that made the score 6-3.

The Rebels fought back to tie the game in the seventh, scoring single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to knot it at six before taking the lead for the first time in the eighth.

Keith Smith started the Rebel rally with a single and then moved to second when Chris Bonnell was hit by a pitch from Wildcat reliever Cory Burns, who then got Chad Miller to fly out. With one out Brenly hit a ground ball to third baseman Erik Castro, who bobbled the ball and could not start a possible inning-ending double play. Walker then singled through the left side to break the tie and the lead grew to two runs on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Kowalski.

Kowalski finished the game going 2-for-4 with three RBI, part of the Rebel 7-8-9 hitters along with Walker and Frierson that went a combined 6-for-10 with six RBI.

UNLV returns to the road, traveling to Reno for a three-game series with in-state rival Nevada, Reno that begins Friday at 2:00 p.m. (PST). It will be the first of five consecutive games on the road for the Rebels.