May 27, 2010
Final Stats
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - No. 5 seed UNLV hung with the sixth-ranked team in the country but could not record a third-straight upset, losing to top-seeded TCU 5-2 on Thursday night at the 2010 Conoco Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship, which is being held at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Horned Frog starter Kyle Winkler (10-1) tossed a complete game, striking out 12 while not issuing a walk and scattering nine hits during an evening that saw rain steadily fall through the middle innings. UNLV drops to 29-28 overall and will play No. 2 seed New Mexico Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. (PT), with the winner advancing to play TCU in the championship game tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.
"Holding a team like that to five runs is all you can ask for and tonight we needed to score six runs," UNLV head coach Buddy Gouldsmith said. "It was a case of not getting the timely hit or making the plays on defense. If you are going to beat a good team like that, you need to make all the plays."
The sixth-ranked Horned Frogs struck first, plating two runs in the bottom of the third to grab the early lead. Brance Rivera singled, moved to second on a balk and came around to score on a double off the bat of Jason Coats that UNLV right fielder Cash Thomas nearly hauled in before hitting the wall. Coats was able to advance to third after Thomas bobbled the ball and then Joe Weik hit a sacrifice fly to center that allowed Coats to trot home.
UNLV chipped away at the two-run deficit, scoring a run in the top of the fourth with two outs, as Cash Thomas hit a 1-1 offering to center that scored Brandon Bayardi, who had singled earlier in the frame. The Rebels then knotted the game in the top of the fifth, getting a lead-off triple to the right-center gap by Hunter Beaty, who came home to score on an RBI ground out.
The rain started to pick up in the bottom of the fifth, as did the TCU offense, which started the inning with a single and a double, putting a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs. Rebel starter Brian Gilbertson did a good job limiting the damage, giving up an RBI ground out followed by a sacrifice fly to right, giving the Horned Frogs a 4-2 lead. He then gave up a double to Taylor Featherston to left center, which caused Gouldsmith to bring on Chad Nading in relief, and he struck out Aaron Schultz swinging to end the inning.
TCU manufactured a run in the sixth, with Jantzen Witte drawing a lead-off walk, moving to second on a sacrifice bunt and then scoring when Richie Jimenez misplayed a grounder to the hole in short, giving the Horned Frogs a 5-2 lead.
Nading helped keep it at a three-run game in the bottom of the seventh with a nifty play after Matt Curry led off with a double down the left-field line and then moved to third on a wild pitch. Nading uncorked another wild pitch, but UNLV catcher Nolan Clark was able to track down the ball and fire it back to Nading, who tagged out Curry at the plate.
But the night belonged to Winkler, who retired the last seven batters he faced as the Horned Frogs moved to 45-11 on the year while advancing to tomorrow's championship game.
UNLV finished the game with nine hits and two errors, with Beaty, Clark and Thomas each collecting two hits apiece. Gilbertson (1-2) took the loss, allowing four runs, three earned, on nine hits in 4.2 innings of work. TCU had 10 hits on the evening, with Coats going 2-for-4 and scoring twice.
