March 25, 2014
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV baseball (17-7/9-3 Mountain West) won its midweek matchup against Utah Valley (7-17) 8-3 on Tuesday at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. The Rebels improve their record to an impressive 13-1 at home this year.
Sophomore Kenny Oakley (1-2) pitched strong for UNLV to earn his first win of the season. He struck out a career-high 10 batters in 7.1 innings of work and allowed one run on five hits and allowed one walk. Between the end of the first inning and the beginning of the fifth, Oakley retired 13 consecutive batters.
Utah Valley opened the scoring in the first inning when Greyson Bogden hit a solo home run to left field, but it would be the only run that Oakley would allow in the game.
The Rebels answered in the bottom half of the first when Joey Armstrong scored on a wild pitch. UNLV added another run in the bottom of the second when Edgar Montes singled up the middle to drive in Morgan Stotts. The Rebels pushed their lead to 3-1 in the third when Justin Jones scored on a sacrifice fly by Patrick Armstrong.
The two teams went scoreless the next three frames, but UNLV hung a crooked number on the Wolverines in the bottom of the seventh. The Rebels plated five runs in the inning, the first of which came when Montes hit his first home run of the year to left center field. Four batters later, Pat Armstrong hit his second home run of the year and drove in T.J. White and Joey Armstrong. VanMeetren scored the final run of the night for UNLV after Stotts doubled to left field.
UVU added two runs in the top of the ninth when Craig Brinkerhoff homered to right field off of Brayden Torres, scoring pinch hitter Chad Michaud. It was Torres's only mistake of the night as he struck out four in 1.2 innings of work.
Jones (2-for-4), VanMeetren (2-for-3), Stotts (2-for-4) and Montes (2-for-4) finished with multiple hits in the game to lead the Rebels from the plate. Pat Armstrong drove in a game-high four runs, while Joey Armstrong scored a game-high two runs.
UNLV will take its act on the road, as the Rebels embark on their longest road stretch of the season. The team will play a three-game set at Nebraska beginning on Friday and will stay in the Cornhusker State to play one game against Creighton at T.D. Ameritrade Park Omaha on Monday. UNLV will then play five more road games (three at Fresno State and two at Arkansas) before returning to Las Vegas to host San Jose State on April 11.
