May 8, 2009
Final Stats
PROVO, Utah - UNLV baseball fell behind early and couldn't rally, losing to BYU 7-3, in the second game of a Mountain West Conference series Friday night at Larry H. Miller Field despite the fact that the Rebels collected more hits than the Cougars.
The loss was the third in a row for the Rebels, dropping them to 25-26 overall and 9-11 in league play, as Andrew Beresford (3-3) took the loss, giving up seven runs on four hits in 2.2 innings on the mound. BYU improved to 26-21 on the year and 13-8 in MWC games, and Blake Torgerson (6-2) earned the win, giving up three runs on nine hits in 5.1 innings of work. Marc Oslund came on in relief and did not give up a run and held the Rebels to one hit over the final 3.2 innings to earn his first save of the season.
BYU jumped out to an early lead, scoring five runs in the second on a run-scoring single with the bases loaded that was followed by a grand slam off the bat of Sean McNaughton, giving the Cougars a 5-0 advantage. The margin went to seven runs in the bottom of the third Andrew Law hit a two-run double to center field to welcome in Rebel reliever Matt Hutchison, giving BYU a 7-0 lead.
That would be all the offense BYU would get as Hutchison settled in and gave up just four hits and no runs the rest of the game, striking out five and walking two in his best outing of the year.
UNLV got within striking distance in the fifth, scoring a trio of runs off of Torgerson to pull within four at 7-3. The Rebels put a pair of runners on to start the frame and after a ground out, J.J. Sferra hit a sacrifice fly, followed by run-scoring hits Jarred Frierson and Ryan Thornton. The Rebels then put runners on second and third with one out in the top of the sixth, but Oslund came in out of the bullpen and got out of the jam, striking out a pair of Rebels sandwiched around a walk.
From there the Rebels got just one more hit, a one-out double in the eighth by Scott Berke, but he was stranded in scoring position and BYU would go on to earn the win. UNLV finished the game with 10 hits and one error, while BYU had eight hits and an error as well.
UNLV and BYU wrap up their series tomorrow, with the first pitch from Larry H. Miller Field set for 2:00 p.m. (PT), and fans can watch the game on BYU TV, which is Cox Cable channel 352 in Las Vegas, as well as DirecTV channel 374 and Dish Network channel 9403.
