May 4, 2007

Final Stats

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - UNLV baseball jumped out to an early four-run lead on its way to a 6-3 win in a Mountain West Conference game against San Diego State at Tony Gwynn Stadium on Friday night.

It was the Rebels' second-straight win and the squad moved to 16-31 overall and 5-11 in league play with starter Craig Heyer picking up the win after he worked eight solid innings on the mound. SDSU dropped its sixth-straight game and is now 27-23, 11-8 in conference games.

The Rebels wasted no time in getting going offensively, as they used four hits to score four runs in the opening frame to take the lead against Aztec starter Bruce Billings (3-3), who took the loss.

UNLV's rally came with two outs and was started on a single by Keith Smith, which was followed by a single by Efren Navarro Jr. and a walk to Xavier Scruggs, loading the bases. Blake Gailen singled to right to bring home the first two Rebel runs and then Rance Roundy doubled in two more runs for a 4-0 lead.

Those four runs would be more than enough for Heyer, who gave up three runs but just one earned, over eight impressive innings. The right-hander gave up eight hits, struck out six and walked two batters to improve to 5-7 overall on the season. Adam Moser worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his third save of the season.

With the score 4-1 heading into the fifth inning the Rebels got an insurance run on a ground out by Navarro Jr. that pushed the lead back to four runs. SDSU then moved to within 5-3 after scoring two runs in the sixth but UNLV answered with a run of its own in the seventh when Ryan Kowalski singled in Michael Brenly for the final 6-3 score.

Roundy had a pair of hits and drove in two runs for the Rebels on the evening and Gailen also finished the game with two RBI. Troy Hanzawa collected two hits and drove in a run for the Aztecs. UNLV and SDSU both finished the game with nine hits each and neither team committed an error.

UNLV and San Diego State continue their three-game series tomorrow at Tony Gwynn Stadium with the first pitch set for 1:00 p.m. (PT).