Box Score

FRESNO, Calif. (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV Rebels (8-10 overall, 3-3 Mountain West) lost a tightly contested outing Sunday to the Fresno State Bulldogs (13-7, 4-2) by one run, 4-3, at Pete Beiden Field. The home-standing Bulldogs claimed the rubber game of the Mountain West series with a walk-off RBI single in the ninth. The Rebels fell behind by two runs early, but rallied for a brief one-run lead in their half of the fourth. Unfortunately, FS evened the score at 3-all in the bottom of the fourth and the contest remained a stalemate until the ninth.

UNLV was paced by two-hit showings from Kyle Isbel, Payton Squier and Nick Rodriguez. The Rebels 1-2-3 hitters (Isbel, Max Smith and Squier) accounted for all three of their RBI, while their 6-7-9 batters (Andrew Yazdanbakhsh, A.J. VanMeetren and Cody Howard) scored the runs.

The Rebels got quality pitching from Kenny Oakley, who went five innings in his fifth start of the season. Oakley earned a no-decision after being lifted prior to the sixth inning. He struck out three against three runs (two earned), seven hits and two walks. Ryan Hare (1-1) was the hard-luck loser in the affair, as he pitched 3.2 frames in relief. Hare fanned three batters, but gave up one run off of three hits.

"We just don't have enough hitters yet that want to really get it done at crunch time or in RBI situations," said head coach Stan Stolte. "That's fixable. We just have to get tougher. We had plenty of opportunities to pull this out today. Oakley and Hare battled and gave us a chance. Fresno State stepped up and delivered; we didn't."

The game started well for the Rebels in the first when they were able to load the bases off a single by Isbel, a walk issued to Smith and a single by Squier. However, the Scarlet & Gray was unable to produce any run-scoring offense in the stanza, as FS starter Edgar Gonzalez rebounded with three straight outs.

The 'dogs, on the other hand, made the most of their opportunities with a run each in the first, third and fourth innings with Zach Ashford directly to thank for each of them. The leadoff batter began the home half of the first with a single and made his way around the bases off a sac bunt, a single by Brody Russell and a wild pitch. In the third, he led off with a walk, took second on another sac bunt and then scored on a RBI double by Russell. One inning later, he plated the game-tying run with a run-scoring single to push teammate Korby Batesole home.

After leaving one runner on base in each of the second and third innings, UNLV was able to score some runs in the fourth with help from Gonzalez's inability to find the strike zone. The hurler walked Yazdanbakhsh and VanMeetren to start the inning before he surrendered a single to Howard that loaded the bases. Anthony Arias was then summoned from the bullpen, but he didn't fare as well on the mound. Isbel and Smith produced back-to-back RBI singles, while Squier was walked on four straight pitches for the Rebels' three runs.

Through the fifth through eighth the teams combined to strand five runners, three of which were in scoring position. FS left one at third in the fifth and another at second in the seventh, while UNLV best chance was Isbel making his way to second in the sixth after a walk and a stolen base. Overall, the squads combined to leave 20 on base, 11 of which were by UNLV.

Moments after the Rebels left Corey Pool at first after his two-out single in the top of the ninth, the 'dogs got a leadoff single by McCarthy Tatum, a sac bunt from Jake Stone and a two-out single up the middle by Russell to win it.

FS's Dylan Lee (2-1) earned the win in relief after he struck out two and allowed only one hit in 1.1 innings. For the day, the 'dogs staff gave up three runs off of nine hits and five walks. The four pitchers combined to strike out nine Rebels.

UNLV returns to Las Vegas for a 3:05 pm affair against the Grand Canyon Antelopes on Tuesday, March 22. That game, which is billed as $2 Tuesday - $2 tickets (online and in-advance at UNLVTickets.com), $2 hot dogs & $2 off beer â€" kicks off a six-game homestand that will run eight days, and it includes a three-game series against Nevada, Reno (March 24-26) and two against Texas Tech (March 28-29).

NOTES: Squier extended his reached-base streak to 16 games with a pair of singles … Squier has collected a hit in 16 of UNLV's 18 games this season … Sunday's loss was the first for the Rebels when it has held the opposition to five or less runs; UNLV is 7-1 in that department … UNLV is 7-7 when it's offense scores five runs or less in a game .