May 25, 2014
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - UNLV baseball (35-23) dropped the Mountain West Championship finale to San Diego State (42-19) 4-3 on Sunday at Earl E. Wilson Stadium, which gave the Aztecs back-to-back tournament championships and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
SDSU opened the scoring by plating three runs in the top of the first inning. The Rebels answered by scoring one run in the home half of the first when Patrick Armstrong hit into a fielder's choice and beat out a double play that scored Joey Swanner from third.
The Rebels then tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when Morgan Stotts hit a double that drove in Swanner and Justin Jones.
The Aztecs answered by scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the sixth.
UNLV had a couple opportunities late in the game. In the seventh, Jones and Stotts recorded back-to-back, two-out, singles, but a fly to right field ended the Rebels' threat.
After being retired in order in the eighth, UNLV elected to pinch hit T.J. White, who didn't start because of an injury, to lead off the ninth. White singled up the middle and advanced to second after Matt McCallister hit a sacrifice bunt.
SDSU then went to its bullpen and brought in Michael Cederoth, who had recently blown two consecutive saves. Swanner grounded out to the shortstop for the second out of the inning, but White advance to third when Cederoth threw a passed ball to the UNLV batter Jones.
Jones worked his way to a full count and finally hit a rocket to right field, but the Aztec defender was able to track the fly ball down and record the final out of the game.
It is the first time this season that the Rebels dropped back-to-back games on their home field.
UNLV's Joey Lauria (2-3) took the loss after pitching 5.1 strong innings in his first career start. He allowed four runs on eight hits and struck out five while walking one. Cody Roper and Brayden Torres pitched in relief and combined to allow no runs on five hits in the final 3.2 innings.
Stotts led the Rebels from the plate, finishing 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Following the game, White, Torres and John Richy were named to the Mountain West All-Tournament team.
UNLV rely on its strong resume to see if it will earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels currently own an RPI of 31 according to WarrenNolan.com. The selection show will be aired on ESPNU at 9:00 a.m. PT.
