May 19, 2007

Final Stats

LAS VEGAS - UNLV baseball senior Keith Smith's walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth, his third round tripper of the game, lifted the Rebels to a dramatic 13-12 victory over Air Force on Saturday afternoon.

With one out and two on, Smith took a pitch from Falcon reliever David Miller (2-11) and put it over the center-field fence, as the 377 fans at Earl E. Wilson Stadium roared their approval. It capped the regular season for UNLV and the victory improved the squad to 22-34 overall and 10-14 in Mountain West Conference games. AFA closed out its season with an 8-44 mark, 0-23 in league games.

On a day when nine seniors were honored before the start of the game, none shown brighter in their regular-season swan song than Smith. He hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first for the first Rebel runs of the game, then clubbed a solo shot in the sixth on his way to knocking in six RBI on the afternoon. Smith became the first Rebel to hit three home runs in a game since Efren Navarro Jr. hit a trio against Air Force on March 20, 2006.

Miller started the fateful ninth inning by getting Michael Brenly to ground to short for the first out, but it unraveled quickly from there. Miller walked both Calvin Beamon and Ryan Kowalski on full counts, bringing Smith to the plate.

The Rebels needed Smith's offense and then some in a back-and-forth game that saw the two teams combine for 25 runs on 35 hits, including 10 that went for extra bases.

Air Force opened up the game by putting a five spot on the board in the top of the first inning, chasing Rebel starter Matt Hutchison before he could get an out. Senior left-hander Chris Saddoris came out of the UNLV bullpen and settled everything down and ended up giving up a lone run on six hits in 5.2 innings of work.

Down by five just a half inning into the game, the Rebels answered in the bottom of the first with three of their own, highlighted by Smith's first home run of the game. Later in the inning senior Chad Miller pushed across another senior, Blake Gailen, to make it a 5-3 game.

UNLV cut it to a one-run game in the fourth on a single by Beamon that scored Chris Bonnell and then in the fifth the Rebels went ahead 7-5 thanks to a three-run rally in the frame. Another sacrifice fly by Miller brought home the first run and then RBI singles by Braden Walker and Jarred Frierson accounted for the other runs.

The Falcons scored a run of their own in the top of the sixth to pull within one but Smith's solo shot in the bottom half extended the UNLV back to two at 8-6.

That would set up a wild final three innings, as Air Force scored two in the top of the seventh to tie it, only to watch the Rebels answer with a pair of their own after the stretch. Beamon hit a double to center field that scored two runs, giving UNLV a 10-8 lead with six outs left to get.

Air Force though, despite not having won a single league game all year, did not roll over, scoring four runs in the top of the eighth to move ahead 12-10. Matt Alexander hit a two-run double that tied the game at 10, and then he scored on a Ben Ausbun two-bagger that gave AFA the lead back at 11-10. Ausbun then came around to score on a wild pitch and an error that moved the margin to 12-10.

The Rebels did not score in the bottom of the eighth, but Marc Baca kept it a two-run game by pitching a scoreless top of the ninth, setting up the dramatic final half inning. Baca (3-3) benefited from Smith's heroics and collected the win.

Smith was one of three Rebels who collected three hits on the afternoon, as Gailen and Walker both rapped out a trip of base knocks as well. Beamon finished the game driving in three runs. AFA was lead at the plate by Alexander, who had two hits and three RBI, while Geno Salazar and K.J. Randhawa each had three hits.

UNLV will now prepare for the upcoming Mountain West Conference Tournament, which will be held at Earl E. Wilson Stadium on May 23-26. The Rebels will be the sixth seed in the tournament and will open the championship on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. (PT) against the third seed.

GAME NOTES:

-Before the game UNLV honored nine seniors who were playing their last regular season game at home and they were: Calvin Beamon, Chris Bonnell, Blake Gailen, Ryan Kowalski, Chad Miller, Koji Pupo, Chris Saddoris, Keith Smith and Ryan Tabor.

-Pupo came into the came in the eight inning, giving him a UNLV record 89 career appearances.