April 18, 2009
Final Stats
PROVO, Utah - The UNLV Rebels (25-17 overall, 2-6 Mountain West) suffered a 5-2 loss to the BYU Cougars (32-14, 7-0) Saturday afternoon at Miller Field in Provo, Utah. The loss was the third straight for the Rebels in as many games. The Cougars took a commanding lead through five and held off UNLV's scoring chances until the final two innings.
BYU jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead with RBI coming from Andrea Ramirez and Kristin Delahoussaye over the first two innings. Ramirez doubled in Tiffany Messerschmidt in the first, while Delahoussaye grounded out.
The Cougars pushed their lead to 3-0 with a run-scoring double off the bat of Delahoussaye in the fourth.
Ramirez added two more RBI to her daily output with a two-run, fifth-inning double to deep right-center, which ended Jessica O'Connor's (9-6) day in the circle.
O'Connor lasted 4.1 frames in her 15th start of the year. She was touched for five runs, four earned, on seven hits. She fanned two Cougars, but walked four.
Kendall Fearn got UNLV on the board in the sixth with a double that brought Jaci Hull home from first base. Hull began the stanza with a walk and scored from first when Fearn's shot screamed down the left-field line and rolled into BYU's bullpen.
The Rebels threatened in the seventh, but only managed to score one before the final out was recorded. Laura Briones led off the inning with a walk and took second on an infield single by Tara Bendt. Both runners moved up a base on a ground out by Marissa Nichols. With the runners in scoring position, Brittany Bolinger plated Briones with a ground out to short.
Paige Affleck (15-7) picked up the win in the circle with a complete-game effort. Affleck gave up two runs on two hits. She struck out nine, but walked six. She held a no-hitter through 5.1 innings, but had it come to an end with Fearn's double.
UNLV will stay on the road for four games split between the states of Colorado and New Mexico. The Rebels will play a non-conference game at Northern Colorado on Thursday, April 23, before jumping back into conference for three that weekend. On Friday, UNLV will play at Colorado State before heading down for a two-game set at New Mexico on Saturday and Sunday.
