March 8, 2009

Final Stats

LAS VEGAS - UNLV baseball put the finishing touches on a dominating four-game sweep of Butler with a 14-2 victory behind 16 Rebels hits on a Sunday afternoon at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. In the four-game series the Rebels pounded out 78 hits and scored 66 runs, including a school-record 30 hits that led to 24 runs in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader.

The four wins wrapped up a 14-game homestand by the Rebels in which they went 11-3, including a current eight-game winning streak. UNLV starter Corey Hales earned the win, evening his record at 1-1 while Butler dropped to 1-8 on the year and starter Joe Ochs took the loss, his first decision of the season.

The Rebels did most of their damage in the opening three innings today, scoring five in the first, three in the second and two in the third to jump out to a 10-0 lead early on.

Anthony Morel hit a two-run double in the first inning while Scott Berke hit a run-scoring single and another pair of runs scored on a throwing error, giving the Rebels a 5-0 lead. Drew Beuerlein and Morel singled in runs and Jesse Wight had a sacrifice fly in the second, and the Rebels used a hit batter and a sacrifice fly in the third to score two more.

Butler broke up the shut out by scoring two in the top of the eighth but UNLV answered with four in its half of the frame for the final margin.

UNLV opens up Mountain West Conference play this weekend, traveling to play San Diego State in a three-game series that gets underway on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. (PT).