March 27, 2009

Final Stats

LONG BEACH, Calif. - UNLV baseball committed a season-high five errors in losing to Long Beach State, 7-4, on Friday night at Blair Field in the opener of a three-game series between the Rebels and Dirtbags.

LBSU scored six runs over the first three innings of the game, but three of those were unearned as UNLV committed a trio of errors over that same span behind starter Jeff Urlaub. The lefty took the loss, dropping his record to 3-2 on the year as he gave up six runs, three earned, on eight hits in 2.2 innings of work. The Rebel bullpen allowed just one run and two hits the rest of the way, but the team could not come back in dropping to 13-11 overall on the year.

The Dirtbags moved to 8-12 overall, with starter Adam Wilk earning the win after giving up three runs on eight hits in 6.2 innings of work, and Charlie Ruiz worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his second save of the season.

UNLV got on the board first when Ryan Thornton tripled to lead off the game and then came home on a single by Drew Beuerlein, the junior catcher's first action since breaking a bone in his right hand on March 18 against Nevada, Reno.

The lead would be short-lived as LBSU scored two runs in the bottom of the frame, then added three in the second and another run in the third to grab a 6-1 lead a third of the way through the game.

The Rebels chipped away at the lead, scoring a run in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Scott Berke and another in the fifth when Thornton doubled in Trent Fuller, who led off the inning with a single. After the Dirtbags tacked on another run in the seventh to make it 7-3, UNLV plated a run of its own in the top of the eighth on an RBI ground out.

Thornton finished 2-for-5 at the plate, part of nine hits in the game for the Rebels compared to 10 hits by the Dirtbags, who did not commit an error in the contest.

UNLV and Long Beach State continue their series, as the two teams facing each other again on Saturday with the first pitch slated for 2:00 p.m. (PT).