April 8, 2008

Final Stats

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - UNLV baseball used a three-run seventh inning to grab a three-run lead then held on late for a series-opening 6-5 victory against Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday afternoon at Jaycees Field.

The Rebels broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning, scoring three runs on four hits, the key one being a double off the bat of Xavier Scruggs that scored two to put his team up for good. Scruggs, who was named the Mountain West Conference Co-Player of the Week, had only one hit in the game, but it was a big one.

UNLV improved to 14-15 overall and the victory went to Troy Watson, who worked 2.2 innings out of the bullpen, while the save went to Adam Moser, his fifth of the year. SFA dropped to 13-17 overall, with Erik Gregerson taking the loss to fall to 0-2 on the year.

The Lumberjacks jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, scoring single runs in the first and second off of UNLV starter Stephen Singer, who would give up another run in the fifth but pitched a strong game overall. He worked five innings, giving up the three runs on five hits while striking out two and walking four before leaving the game after the fifth.

UNLV entered the third inning trailing by two runs but left it with a 3-2 advantage, scoring three runs in the frame on just two hits. The Rebels loaded the bases and Bryan Resnick scored on a wild pitch to make it a one-run game. UNLV tied the game on a SFA error that allowed two runs to cross the plate for a 3-2 Rebel lead.

SFA cut into the Rebels' 6-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth, scoring two runs to pull within one at 6-5, getting an RBI double by Matt Whatley and a runs-scoring single by Brian Ferguson off of Watson with two outs. UNLV then went to its closer, bringing in Moser, who got the final out of the eighth and then worked a scoreless ninth for the save.

UNLV will wrap up its series with SFA on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. (PT), with Steven Rinaudo slated to take the hill for the Rebels.