April 11, 2008

Final Stats

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV Rebels nearly came back in their Mountain West Conference contest with the Utah Utes on Friday night, but fell by a 4-3 margin. Utah jumped out to a 4-0 lead with help from three runs in the third, but watched UNLV chip away with single runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings. The Utes improve to 21-19 overall and 4-3 in the conference, while the Rebels fall to 21-24-1 and 1-4 in league action.

The Utes took a 1-0 lead in the second on a solo home run by Devina Quintero off of a Stephanie Bregante offering.

Utah upped its lead to 4-0 in the third off of a two-run home run and an RBI-single. With two out, Bregante hit Angie Boardman and then allowed the two-run blast to Kara Foster to deep center. Quintero delivered picked up her second extra-base hit of the game with a double down the left-field line to close the book on Bregante. Traci Odegard took the circle and was called for an illegal pitch that sent Quintero to third. Kristie Keller then hit a single up the middle to score Quintero.

UNLV got its offense going in the bottom of the third, as they picked up its first run of the game. The Rebels put together three straight singles and got help from a throwing error by Utah catcher Andrea Hoffman to cut the deficit to three at 4-1. Ashli Holland and Cheynah Farley strung together hits to put runners on second and first for Brittany Bolinger's bunt single. Hoffman fielded Bolinger's bunt and threw wildly to first to allow Holland to score.

In the fourth inning, the Rebels notched their second run of the game when Utah's Brittany Parker walked Farley with the bases loaded. Parker was able to get out of the jam and kept the bases loaded when the third out was recorded.

After a scoreless fifth, UNLV picked up its third run when Caitlyn Paus made a headsy play and scored from second on an infield ground out. Paus reached on an error and then took second on a wild pitch. Laura Briones joined Paus on the base paths with a walk. Ashley Smuda was then summoned from the bullpen in relief of Parker and got Holland to ground out, but Paus wound up scoring on the play.

Parker picked up the win in 5.1 innings of work and improved to 9-10 on the year. She allowed three runs (one earned) on six hits. She struck out five to walking only three.

Smuda earned her first save of the season in 1.2 innings of relief. She struck out two and did not surrender a run or hit in the effort.

Bregante dropped to 12-13 overall in 2.2 innings of a start. She was responsible for all four runs allowed and gave up six runs.

Traci Odegard and Heather Slettvet tossed the final 4.1 innings of the game for UNLV and kept the Utes off the scoreboard. Odegard threw 3.1 innings and gave up five hits to Slettvet's 1.0 inning and no hits.

The Rebels and Utes resume their series with a game at 1:00 pm on Saturday, April 12 at Eller Media Stadium.