April 10, 2008
BYU 11, UNLV 5
UNLV 5, BYU 1
LAS VEGAS - The UNLV Rebels split its home-opening doubleheader in Mountain West Conference action against the BYU Cougars on Thursday night at Eller Media Stadium. UNLV won game two by a 5-1 margin, but dropped the first contest, 11-5. The Rebels sit at 20-23-1 overall and 1-3 in league play, while the Cougars are 27-13 and 4-1.
In game two, UNLV broke open a scorless game with a run in the bottom of the third. With runners on first and second, Sandy Nakamura hit a grounder to Kristin Delahoussaye at second base. Delahoussaye bobbled the ball in an attempt to get Jaci Hull running from first to second, but dropped the ball. Stephanie Bean took advantage of the error and scored from second.
The Rebels increased their lead to 2-0 with a single run in the fourth. Brittany Bolinger singled home Ashli Holland from second. Holland reached on a fielder's choice and then moved into scoring position on a groundout.
BYU picked up a run in the sixth on a solo home run by Amanda Vance, but watched UNLV score three more in the bottom of the inning. Holland then stepped up and hit a ball to deep left that scored Laura Briones from first, while she crossed the plate with help from a throwing error by Jessica Purcell at short. Bolinger then reached on a walk and took third on a passed ball. Bolinger added the Rebels' third run on a ground out by Bean.
Stephanie Bregante moved her record to 12-12 with the complete-game victory. Bregante struck out eight, while giving up only one run on six hits.
Christie Zinanti suffered the loss in 5.1 innings of work. Zinanti allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits. She struck out six, but walked four.
Game one started out as a pitchers' dual with only one run being scored through the first five innings of play. The game erupted offensively in the final two frames, as the teams combined for 15 runs.
BYU took a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a run off of one hit and help from a Rebel error. Jessica Purcell reached on a two-out single and then moved into scoring position on a passed ball. Purcell came around to score when Stephanie Hopkins' grounder was misplayed by Holland at second base.
The game remained at 1-0 until the sixth inning when BYU plated seven runs on six hits off of Heather Slettvet. Five of the runs came across after the second out was recorded.
UNLV cut the deficit in half with four runs in the bottom of the sixth with four runs of its own. With the bases loaded Christina Trice uncorked a wild pitch to allow Bolinger from third. Bean wound up scoring on the play when Emi Willing's throw to Trice at home was mishandled. The Rebels tacked on two more runs off of Cougar errors.
The Cougars added three more runs on three hits in the top of the seventh. The three-run barrage was capped off by a two-run home run by Stephanie Hopkins.
The Rebels added one run in the bottom of the seventh on a single by Hull.
Trice picked up the win in 6.1 innings of work and improved to 11-5 on the year. She was responsible for only two of the five Rebel runs. She walked five and struck out five.
Slettvet suffered the loss in 6.1 innings. She allowed 10 runs (nine earned) on 10 hits. She fanned one and walked three.
The Rebels return to action Friday with a 6:00 pm contest against the Utah Utes at Eller Media Stadium. The team's will play once more on Saturday at 1:00 pm.
