Box Score

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV baseball team (15-20, 8-10 Mountain West) needed extra innings to complete its three-game sweep of the Air Force Falcons (18-13, 8-7 MW) at Earl E. Wilson Stadium Sunday. The Rebels, who led 5-2 through six innings of play, had to rally for the 7-6, come-from-behind win with runs in the eighth and 10th innings. The game-winning run was a result of an opposite field, RBI single by Nick Ames.

After giving up a pair of runs in both the seventh and eighth innings, the Scarlet & Gray had seen its three-run lead turn into a one-run deficit. Things turned for the better in the home half of the eighth when A.J. VanMeetren led off the frame reaching on a wild pitch despite swinging and missing at strike three. VanMeetren made his way to second base off Austin Anderson's sacrifice bunt. Max Smith was later walked to put two on for the Rebels, but he was later thrown out off a fielder's choice put in play by Kyle Isbel. In the continuation of the play, the Falcons' shortstop Tyler Zabojnik attempted to complete the double play, but threw wildly to first base. The miscue allowed VanMeetren to score with ease and, in turn, even the score at 6-all.

UNLV had a chance to win the contest in the bottom of the ninth when it put runners in scoring position after a one-out walk and hit-by-pitch; however, Air Force's Austin McDaniel (1-1) was able to strike out the next two batters to halt the threat.

Moments after seeing the Falcons strand a runner at third in the 10th, the Rebels capitalized on their opportunity. Smith made his way on off a four-pitch walk. He went from first to third off a single by Kyle Isbel and scored one batter later off Ames' walk-off single.

VanMeetren who notched two RBI and scored two runs paced the Rebel offense, while teammate Austin Anderson went 3-for-4 with two RBI. Corey Pool, like VanMeetren, touched home plate twice Sunday.

"I was proud of the way the kids battled to finish this off against a very competitive Air Force team," said head coach Stan Stolte. "The pitching was outstanding this weekend and, individually, we had some kids take some good at-bats. I'm very disappointed in our defensive play in the outfield and our base running; it was substandard for the whole weekend, even by high school standards. We need to get that fixed or that will be an issue the rest of the year. We have a challenging stretch ahead of us, so it was great to see the kids come out and grind out three wins this weekend."

Air Force got on the scoreboard first with help from back-to-back extra-base hits that came after a two-out walk issued by Rebel starter Dean Kremer. The lead was short-lived as the Rebels countered with a walk and three consecutive singles -- the last two were of the RBI variety by Anderson and Cody Howard. Andrew Yazdanbakhsh and Corey Pool scored the runs for UNLV.

UNLV pushed out to its three-run lead in the sixth with a two-run single by VanMeetren and an RBI single by Anderson. Justin Jones led off with a walk and took to third when Pool cranked a double to right center. VanMeetren followed with his hit, which spelled the end of Trent Monaghan's day on the mound. Hargreaves was summoned from the bullpen and was quickly greeted by Anderson's run-scoring hit.

The Falcons clawed back into the game with a two-run single by Bradley Haslam off Kremer in the seventh and a pair of RBI hits by Nic Ready and Shaun Mize an inning later. UNLV had brought Ben Wright in to pitch the eighth for a possible two-inning save, but he was unable to hold the lead, as he gave up two runs off of three hits.

Larry Quaney (2-1) tossed the final two innings and allowed two hits for UNLV and earned the second win of the year.

Kremer went seven innings and had a no-decision. He struck out five, allowed four runs (two earned) off of six hits and two walks.

McDaniel was saddled with the loss in 3.1 innings of relief. He struck out six against two hits, two runs (one earned) and four walks. He took the mound after Monaghan threw the first five innings and Matt Hargreaves tossed the sixth. Monaghan struck out six, but gave up five runs off of seven hits and two walks. Hargreaves fanned one and allowed two hits.

UNLV hits the road for its next eight games -- its second eight-game road trip of the month. It will square off with the Arizona State Sun Devils Tuesday night (6:30 pm) at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. The team will then head West to Orange County and three games against Cal State Fullerton in a series that'll run Friday through Sunday.

NOTES: The series sweep is the first for UNLV since it won all three versus Air Force in Las Vegas (April 25-26) -- coincidentally, that series also saw a pair of one-run triumphs by UNLV -- one of which came in 10 innings -- and another win by a 7-2 score ... UNLV won this weekend's series by scores of 1-0, 7-2 and 7-6 (10) ... UNLV improved to 2-1 in extra-inning games this season ... UNLV improved to 7-7 when its offense scores six or more runs in a game ... UNLV picked up its third win -- in 21 tries -- when its opposition scores six runs or more in a game ... UNLV improved to 3-0 when hits are tied in a game.