Feb. 23, 2010
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS - For the second time in four games UNLV baseball went 11 innings, but the Rebels' extra work paid off this time around when Nolan Clark hit a one-out run-scoring single to send his team to a 5-4 win over Southern Utah on Tuesday night at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.
Richie Jimenez led off the Rebel half of the 11th with a double down the left-field line and after moving up to third on a sacrifice bunt, Jimenez trotted home when Clark lofted a soft liner to right over a drawn in SUU infield. UNLV, which lost in 11 innings in its season opener this past Friday, improved to 2-2 while the visiting Thunderbirds dropped to 0-4.
UNLV's bullpen was stellar, as the Glenn DeWeese, Tanner Peters and Matt Hutchison combined to toss six scoreless innings of relief, giving up just three hits and striking out 10 SUU batters against just one walk. Hutchison (1-0) picked up the win for UNLV while Thunderbird reliever Cody Eliason (0-1) took the loss.
The Thunderbirds got on the board first, pushing three runs across the board in the top of the fourth inning on two hits a walk and a hit batter, and it marked the first three runs of the season for the team.
UNLV tacked on a run in the bottom of the frame when Jarred Frierson singled to open the inning before coming around to score on a fielder's choice, cutting the lead to 3-1.
SUU made it a three-run game again in the top of the fifth when Marcus Romero doubled home a run off of UNLV starter Chad Nading, making the score 4-1. The fifth inning was Nading's last, as the right-hander gave up four runs on four hits, striking out five and walking four in five innings of work.
The Rebels chipped away at the lead, getting a run in the bottom of the sixth on a Brian Gilbertson single and another in the seventh on an RBI double to left field off the bat of Drew Beuerlein. Jimenez led off the bottom of the ninth with an opposite-field single against SUU reliever Kelsey Outram, who then got Frierson to fly out to left field on a full-count pitch. Beuerlein knotted the game at four, lacing a double to the left-center wall that scored Jimenez all the way from first base.
Jimenez was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and Beuerlein added a pair of doubles and two RBI to pace the UNLV offense, which finished the night with 10 hits. Southern Utah collected seven hits in scoring their four runs, two coming off the bat of Mitchell Kauweloa.
UNLV continues its eight-game homestand to open up the 2010 season, hosting Temple in a four-game series that gets underway Friday night at Earl E. Wilson Stadium, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:00 p.m. (PT).
