March 15, 2007
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS - The Rebels baseball team needed a spark from someone or somewhere coming in off three straight losses, and falling in seven out of their last eight outings. That spark came in the form of Blake Gailen tonight as the Rebels opened Mountain West Conference play with a 13-5 win over BYU (11-7, 0-1 MWC) Thursday night from Earl E. Wilson Stadium.
Gailen, who was recently featured in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd section, stood out tonight going 4-5 with six runs batted in, scoring twice himself. It was Gailen's third four-hit game of the season, and if that wasn't enough, he even swiped a base in the victory.
It wasn't all Gailen though as UNLV (10-15, 1-0 MWC) starter Craig Heyer hurled six strong innings to get his third win of the season. Heyer ran into trouble only twice as he struck out four and scattered seven Cougar hits. Reliever Chris Saddoris came out of the bullpen to work a scoreless seventh inning, and Koji Pupo was strong in finishing the last 1.2 innings in perfect fashion.
The Rebels jumped out early in the bottom half of the opening frame, scoring three runs off BYU starter Jordan Muir. UNLV leadoff hitter Calvin Beamon walked to start the rally, advanced to second on a balk and scored on a single by Gailen. The Rebels then got RBI knocks by Efren Navarro Jr. and Chad Miller to finish the scoring in the first.
UNLV was back at it in the second, scoring another three spot off the BYU pitching staff. Michael Brenly singled to lead off the inning, followed by a Ryan Kowalski walk. Gailen then added to his RBI total with a stinging single to left field off Cougar reliever J.D. Stambaugh that scored both base runners as he advanced all the way to third on a misplay by the BYU left fielder. He scored the next batter thanks to a Keith Smith single.
In the bottom half of the third, Gailen again delivered a two-run single which was immediately followed by another Keith Smith RBI single for the Rebels' third three-run inning of the night.
BYU chalked up three runs in the top half of the fourth thanks to a three-run, bases clearing triple by Cougar catcher J.T. Musso. The Rebels answered with three of their own in the bottom of the fifth to stretch the lead out to nine again at 12-3. Calvin Beamon and Kowalski each had RBI doubles in the three-run rally for the home team.
BYU put a single run on the board in the seventh inning, and had the bases loaded in the eighth but Pupo came in and struck out a hitter before getting Apama Nakayama to fly to right to end the threat.
Smith finished the contest 3-4 with two knocked in for UNLV, while Braden Walker was 2-5 with two runs scored and his first long ball of the season. Sophomore backstop Michael Brenly chipped in with a 2-4 game, stealing a bag and scoring three times.
The Rebels will continue its ten-game home stand tomorrow evening with another conference match-up with the BYU Cougars at 6:30 p.m. from Earl E. Wilson Stadium. The Cougars will send left-hander Jake Wortham to the hill tomorrow, while the Rebels are still undecided on who will get the ball in game two of the series.
