Oct. 20, 2013
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV baseball wrapped up its two-game exhibition series with a 5-4 walk-off win over perennial western power Cal State Fullerton, which finished the 2013 season ranked No. 10, at Earl E. Wilson Stadium on Sunday. Johnathan Torres hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth.
"All I ask for from our guys is that they play hard every pitch," head coach Tim Chambers said. "That's what we did today and really all weekend. It was a good test for us to play Fullerton. They are a great team. If we can continue to play with this enthusiasm we have now in the spring it will be a fun year."
The Rebels got on the board early, for the second day in a row, as Patrick Armstrong drove in Justin Jones with a two-out double in the bottom of the first. Patrick Armstrong then hit a two-out homer in his next at-bat to give UNLV a 2-0 lead after three innings.
The Titans rallied in the bottom of the fourth and scored three runs to take a 3-2 lead.
The Rebels tied the game in the fifth inning when T.J. White scored on a Cal State Fullerton error. UNLV took advantage of another Titan error in the sixth inning to take a 4-3 lead when Joey Swanner scored.
Cal State Fullerton tied the game in the top of ninth inning, but Johnathan Torres clinched the exhibition win with a home run in the bottom of the ninth.
"We came out this weekend and played really hard," senior Patrick Armstrong said. "We knew coming in that they are a really good team and are highly ranked. We have been working hard every day and we came out here and just competed. I don't think they expected us to come out the way we did yesterday and putting up a couple early runs today really helped. Our defense was strong all weekend and we hit and pitched well. We did the little things right and that will help our team moving forward."
From the mound, Kenny Oakley got the start and pitched three scoreless innings, before giving up a two-run home run in the fourth inning. Cody Roper came in for relief and allowing one run on one hit in 2.2 innings of work. Joey Lauria pitched the final three innings to get the win and gave up one run on two hits.
"I was pleased with our overall performance both days from the mound," associated head coach and pitching coach Stan Stolte said. "They are very disciplined team that doesn't take a single pitch off. We didn't allow many extra base hits, but we are still going too deep into counts so we have some stuff to work on heading into the spring."
The Rebels will continue fall practice at Earl E. Wilson Stadium until November 9th.The team practices Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and will hold intersquad scrimmages on Fridays and Saturdays starting at 9 a.m. each week. Admission is free and fans are encouraged to attend.
