Feb. 26, 2010

Final Stats

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. - The UNLV Rebels (8-4) fought hard against the 19th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies (11-3) Friday night at Big League Dreams in Cathedral City, Classic, but came up short in the 4-3 decision. The game witnessed scoreless ball through three innings of play before seeing two three-run home runs and a solo tally in the final four frames.

Texas A&M opened the scoring with a three-run home run from Bailey Schroeder in the fourth. Melissa Dumezich started the offensive with a one-out singled to short. Sydney Shannon followed with a sacrifice bunt attempt and wound up reaching first on a throwing error by Kendall Fearn that also allowed Dumezich to move to third. Schroeder then came up with her big hit.

It took UNLV until the fifth inning to get revved up. Paige Emerson and Tara Bendt began the frame with back-to-back singles off Rhiannon Kliesing before watching Marissa Nichols blast a three-run home run to deep left. Nichols home run extended her hitting streak to 11 games. Kleising was then pulled from the game in favor of Dumezich (1-0), who held the Rebels scoreless the remainder of the game.

The Aggies regained the lead in the sixth with a single tally. Traci Odegard recorded the first two outs of the inning before issuing a walk to Schroeder. Kelsea Orsak then hit a single to the gap in right-center that pushed Schroeder to third. Macie Morrow delivered the go-ahead hit, as she dribbled a single into no man's land between first and second.

Dumezich picked up the win in 2.2 innings of relief. She walked three and recorded one strikeout.

Odegard was stuck with the loss in 6.0 innings of work. She was touched for four runs (three earned) on eight hits. She struck out seven and walked four.

The Rebels are back in action at 8:00 pm, Saturday evening when they face the Fordham Rams at Big League Dreams.