March 27, 2010
Final Stats
PROVO, Utah - A six-run eighth inning broke a tie ball game and sent UNLV baseball to a 11-5 win over BYU in a Mountain West Conference game on Saturday afternoon at Larry H. Miller Field.
The win helped the Rebels avoid the sweep and gave them their first league win, improving to 15-10 overall and 1-2 in MWC games, with starter Matt Hutchison (3-0) picking up the victory, as he lasted seven innings. BYU fell to 10-12 overall and 3-3 in league games, with reliever Justin Shutt (1-4) taking the loss.
In the game-changing eighth inning, the Rebels used seven hits and an error to plate their runs, and the winning run was actually scored just two batters into the inning, as Brandon Bayardi and Brian Gilbertson hit back-to-back doubles. That gave UNLV a 6-5 lead, and from there the close game was turned into a wide margin, with five more runs coming across the plate.
Richie Jimenez added a sacrifice fly and Jarred Frierson an RBI single during the rally, while the Rebels also got a pair of runs on a bases-loaded throwing error.
Before that frame, the two teams had played a close game and were tied at five following the first fiving innings of the afternoon.
UNLV jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, with Drew Beuerlein doubling in a run and then Kyle Kretchmer launching a two-run home run to right field. It was the lefty's fourth home run of the year. BYU would tie the game, however, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first and then another in the second.
The two teams would each score a pair of runs in the fifth, with Beuerlein doubling in a pair of runs that would be matched by a two-run double off the bat of Bryce Ayoso, knotting the game at five. Beuerlein had a big day at the plate, driving in four runs and hitting a pair of doubles.
Hutchison kept the game tied until the eighth, and the senior right-hander earned a win in his second straight start, allowing five runs, four earned, on seven hits. He struck out seven and walked three, and the native of Palmdale, Calif., has made a solid transition back to being a starting pitcher after opening the year as the Rebels' closer.
Up next for UNLV is a tilt with in-state rival Nevada, Reno, on Tuesday in Reno, with the first pitch set for 4:00 p.m. (PT).
