April 15, 2007
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS - UNLV baseball jumped out to an early two-run lead and had chances to extend that margin but could not in losing 7-3 to TCU in a Mountain West Conference game at Earl E. Wilson Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Rebels scored single runs in the second and third innings to get a 2-0 lead, but in both frames they left the bases loaded as they could not get the clutch hit to lead to the big inning. It was that way all afternoon for UNLV, which left 13 men on base and could not avoid the sweep or its seventh-straight loss in falling to 14-26 on the year and 3-9 in league games. TCU capitalized by scoring seven of the game's final eight runs in improving to 27-9 and a league-leading 10-1 in MWC contests.
In the bottom of the second Ryan Kowalski led off the frame with a single, stole second and then after Xavier Scruggs drew a walk, both runners moved up 90 feet on a sacrifice bunt. Freshman catcher Drew Beuerlein roped a double off of Horned Frog starter Chance Corgan that gave the Rebels a 1-0 lead and put runners on second and third. Following a walk by Braden Walker that loaded the bases, Corgan got out of the inning by striking out Calvin Beamon and then getting a ground out off the bat of Blake Gailen.
UNLV then loaded the bases again in the third inning on a single, a hit batsman and a walk, bringing Beuerlein to the plate once again to face Corgan with the bags full of Rebels. This time Beuerlein was hit by a pitch, forcing in the second run of the game and moving the lead to 2-0. Corgan got Walker to ground out though, ending the threat and keeping the Horned Frogs in the game.
It looked like two runs would be enough for the Rebels as their starter, freshman Matt Hutchison, was cruising along through the first five innings. The right-hander allowed just three hits through those opening five frames and recorded the first two outs of the sixth before running into trouble.
In the game-changing frame six consecutive Horned Frogs reached base and pushed four runs across the plate to give TCU a 4-0 lead after Hutchison had got two outs to open the inning. That rally chased Hutchison (1-6) as he allowed four runs on seven hits in taking the loss.
UNLV got to within one in the bottom of the sixth when Gailen tripled off the right-center wall with two outs and then scored on Keith Smith's single. But that would be as close as the Rebels would get in the game as TCU scored twice in the seventh and once in the eighth and go on to the win.
The Rebels will now take a break from MWC action and travel to Corvallis, Ore., for a three-game set with defending College World Series champion Oregon State, beginning April 20. The match up with the Beavers marks the third-straight season that UNLV will have played the defending national champions.
