Final Stats

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (UNLVRebels.com) - Senior Edgar Montes waited for the perfect pitch and he found it eight pitches into his at-bat in the eighth inning. Facing a full-count, he drilled the ball over the left field wall, which gave UNLV baseball (21-24, 7-16 Mountain West) a 3-2 lead.

The Rebels would hold off San Diego State (31-17, 17-9 MW) in the final two innings to preserve their win on Saturday at Tony Gwynn Field.

After strong pitching dominated the first four innings, SDSU took a 2-0 lead after scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.

UNLV battled back in the top of the sixth, getting one run back when A.J. VanMeetren hit a sacrifice fly to center field, driving in his older brother, Erik VanMeetren, from third.

Payton Squier was walked in the top of the eighth and after an out was recorded, Montes' gave the Rebels the lead with his second home run of the season.

Montes led UNLV offensively, going 2-for-4 with a home run and a double. He also finished with two RBI and scored a run. Erik VanMeetren also finished with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Zack Harman (4-1) earned the win for UNLV, pitching two innings of relief and allowing one hit to go with two strikeouts. Brayden Torres collected his team-high fourth save of the season after pitching in the ninth inning. D.J. Myers got the start for the Rebels and was effective, allowing two runs on five hits while recorded three strikeouts to go with two walks in five innings of work.

The Rebels and Aztecs will meet for game two of the three-game series on Saturday. UNLV is slated to send Blaze Bohall (5-2, 3.71 ERA) to the mound while SDSU is expected to start Marcus Reyes (6-2, 3.98 ERA). Fans can watch the action live on UNLVRebels.com/videos, thanks to the Mountain West Network.