May 25, 2010
Final Stats
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - UNLV sophomore Tanner Peters threw seven dominant innings to lead the fifth-seeded Rebels to a 9-1 victory over No.4 BYU in the first game of the 2010 Conoco Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship, which got underway Tuesday at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Peters allowed just one run on six hits while striking out nine against just one walk, and at one point in the game he retired 12 consecutive Cougar batters. He improved to 7-5 on the year in helping the Rebels move to 28-27 on the season and advance in the tournament. Today's effort by Peters was a stark contrast to his previous two starts during the regular season against the BYU, in which he gave up a total of 16 runs on 19 hits in 10 innings of work.
"The difference today was I was able to get ahead of hitters and I kept pounding the zone," Peters said. "Getting out of the first inning giving up just one run was huge and gave everyone a big boost."
The top of the Rebel lineup keyed the nine-run attack, with Hunter Beaty and Jarred Frierson combining to go 6-for-8 with two RBI and five runs scored, including a 4-for-4 effort by Freirson at the plate. Today's win also snapped a six-game losing streak and kept UNLV in the winners bracket while only using two pitchers, as Brady Zuniga worked the final two innings of the game.
"What Tanner did today was huge and I can't say enough about how he was able to pitch out of trouble early," UNLV head coach Buddy Gouldsmith said. "Being able to keep scoring runs was another key."
UNLV scored first, putting runners on the corners with no outs after Beaty and Frierson started the game with back-to-back singles, and Beaty scored on a ground out for a 1-0 lead. BYU knotted the score in the bottom of the frame, on an RBI single by Jonathan Cluff, but it could have been more as the Cougars loaded the bases with one out. Peters worked around the trouble, getting a line out and then striking out Austin Hall to keep the game tied at one.
From there it was all Rebels, as they continually put pressure on the Cougars offensively while getting a great performance from Peters on the mound.
UNLV took the lead for good in the top of the third, as after a pair of walks, Brandon Bayardi hit a run-scoring single and then R.J. Arnold added a sacrifice fly that pushed the margin to 3-1. UNLV added a run in the fourth on an RBI single by Frierson following a double by Cash Thomas to open the inning before blowing the game wide open in the sixth.
Following a throwing error that allowed Nolan Clark to reach base to open the inning, BYU starter Chris Capper got the next two outs before running into trouble. Beaty singled to right center to score Clark, and following a single by Frierson, another run come home on Drew Beuerlein's base hit to center, making it 6-1. That ended Capper's day and Vance Law brought in Kevin Sloan to face Bayardi, who laced a double down the left-field line to extend the lead to six runs at 7-1.
UNLV added two more runs in the eighth inning to cap the scoring and finished the game with 13 hits, while BYU had eight in the game.
Capper (4-2) took the loss, giving up seven runs on 10 hits in 5.2 innings of work and the Cougars are now 25-30 overall and will play tomorrow morning in an elimination game at 11:00 a.m. (PT).
UNLV will now face either top-seeded TCU at 7:00 p.m. (PT) or No. 2 New Mexico at 4:00 p.m., depending on the outcome of tonight's game between No. 3 San Diego State and No. 6 seed Utah.
