March 15, 2009
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - UNLV and San Diego State were tied through the first four innings but the Aztecs scored the last 13 runs of the game to beat the Rebels, 15-2, on Sunday afternoon in the final of a three-game series at Tony Gywnn Stadium.
With the score knotted at two, the Aztecs broke the game wide open with a seven-run fifth inning and didn't look back in completing a three-game sweep of the Rebels, who had won eight straight heading into the weekend. UNLV is now 11-6 and 0-3 in MWC action and starter Corey Hales took the loss, giving up five runs, all earned, on four hits while striking out four and walking four as well. SDSU moved to 11-6 and 3-0 in league games with Tyler Lavigne picking up the win as he went five innings and gave up two runs on three hits to go with eight strikeouts.
Corey Vaughn singled with the bases loaded to bring home two Aztecs in the bottom of the first, but the Rebels answered with a pair of their own in the top of the second to tie the game. Jarred Frierson and Anthony Morel singled, moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch, and then Frierson scored on another errant delivery by Lavigne to cut the lead in half. Following a walk Chad Claus hit a sacrifice fly centerfield to even the game.
The game stayed tied through the next two innings but Hales could not get an out to start the fifth, giving up a single and a walk before a triple to Vaughn that gave SDSU the lead back. The Aztecs went on to score five more runs off of Rebel relievers Chad Nading and Michael Goodman, collecting a total of seven hits during the rally to grab a commanding lead.
SDSU tacked onto its lead, first with a run in the sixth inning, then four more in the seventh with the big hit again being delivered by Vaughn, this one a three-run home run that made the score 14-2. Josh Chasse led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run to cap the scoring. Vaughn finished the game going 4-for-4 with seven RBI, part of a 14-hit attack on the afternoon for the Aztecs.
Frierson collected three hits and scored a run in four trips to the plate for the Rebels, but the rest of the lineup had just three hits, and two of those were by J.J. Sferra.
UNLV returns home for a non-conference tilt Wednesday against in-state rival Nevada, Reno at Earl E Wilson Stadium and the game is slated to start at 7:00 p.m. The Rebels will then get back to league action with a three-game series at home against Air Force that gets underway on Friday.
