Box Score

SAN DIEGO (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV baseball team (12-19, 5-10 Mountain West) concluded its three-game, Mountain West series against the San Diego State Aztecs (9-20, 4-8 MW) with a 4-2 loss Sunday. The Rebels struck first with a run in the top of the fourth; however, the host Aztecs countered with three in their half of the inning to put some breathing room between the two squads at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

The Scarlet & Gray jumped out to its short-lived lead thanks to an RBI single by A.J. VanMeetren that came after Andrew Yazdanbakhsh and Justin Jones reached base after a two-out single and a fielding error, respectively.

SDSU answered UNLV's offensive output quickly with the assistance of two singles, a throwing error and a wild pitch. Chase Calabuig and Alan Trejo began the frame with the base hits, and both later scored when UNLV starter Dean Kremer (1-4) had a pair of throwing mishaps: a throwing error off a ball put in play by David Hensley and a wild pitch thrown to Spencer Thornton. Hensley eventually scored on a single down the right field line by Tyler Adkison.

The Aztecs tacked on an insurance run in the fifth when Hunter Statton's RBI single knocked in Andrew Brown, who had led off the frame with a triple.

UNLV attempted to get back into the affair in its final at-bat. After the first out had been recorded via a fly out, Payton Squier reached on an error by SDSU starting pitching Cody Thompson (1-5). Yazdanbakhsh and Jones followed with singles, the second which resulted in an RBI. The Aztecs went to the bullpen and brought in Jacob Erickson with runners on the corners. Erickson struck out VanMeetren, and after catching the third strike Hunter Stratton fired to second base to catch Jones attempting to steal second base.

In addition to his two-hit, one-run effort, Yazdanbakhsh threw out two would-be base stealers in the contest.

"We aren't good enough to have success without playing good baseball for the full nine innings," said head coach Stan Stolte. "We took an inning off and screwed up two simple bunt plays that handed SDSU three runs, and that changed the game."

Thompson pitched 8.1 innings and allowed only two unearned runs off of five hits to earn his first win of the season. He struck out five against no walks. He gave way to Erickson in the ninth, and he struck out one and recorded another out to notch his first save.

Kremer tossed all eight innings for UNLV, but was tagged with the loss. He gave up four runs (two earned) off of seven hits. He walked one and struck out one.

The Rebels will play, once more, in America's Finest City with a contest scheduled for Monday night against the San Diego Toreros (17-17) at Fowler Park. The USD affair will close out an eight-game road swing for UNLV and bring the team home to host its only games â€" a three-game Conference series (April 15-17) against Air Force â€" at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.

Fans can purchase tickets for the Air Force series at UNLVTickets.com. Promotionally speaking, Friday's game (6:05 pm) will see mini baseball bat bottle openers handed out, while Saturday (2:05 pm) is Military Appreciation Day (free admission with valid military I.D.) and also a Smoken' Saturday ($8 for ticket, hot dog and drink).

NOTES: UNLV lost for only the second time this season â€" in 12 games â€" when it held an opponent under five runs or less … UNLV dropped to 1-5 in games it scores two runs or less … UNLV dropped to 9-5 in games it scores first … Cooper Esmay's seven-game hitting and reached-base streaks came to an end Sunday.