LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV softball lost its first Mountain West series of 2019 in heartbreaking fashion Sunday at Eller Media Stadium, falling to Fresno State 5-3 in the rubber match. The Rebels, who led 2-0 until Fresno State (24-12, 3-6) tied it up in the fifth, scored what looked like the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth, but the Bulldogs responded in the top of the seventh with a three-run home run to take the lead for good.
The defeat is the second straight for UNLV, marking just the second time all year with back-to-back losses. The Rebels are now 26-9 overall and 7-4 in Mountain West play.
Freshman
Jenny Bressler got her second start of the weekend after a 7-0 complete-game win in the series opener Friday. The right-hander again went seven innings, but suffered her fourth loss of the season after allowing the dagger home run. For the game, she allowed five runs, four earned, on nine hits with five strikeouts - pushing her to the 100 strikeout mark in her first collegiate campaign.
The offense had more success Sunday than the three-hit loss in game two, but like Saturday, runners left on base was an issue. After leaving 11 stranded in the 4-0 loss the day before, the Rebels left 10 on base Sunday.
THE TURNING POINT: In the bottom of the sixth, sophomore
Samantha Diaz led off the inning with a single to left field and with two outs,
Lauren Tycksen put two on with an infield single to second. Junior
Reina Bondi then came up with a hit to the hole and when the shortstop tried to get the force out at third, she hit Diaz on the throw and the ball scooted to the UNLV dugout, allowing Diaz to score from third and make it 3-2. Needing three outs for the win in the top half of the seventh, Bressler got a quick first out, then a walk and a single put two on with one out. After another quick out, Bressler was up 0-1 on Fresno State's Hayleigh Galvin, but Bressler's next pitch was sent over the centerfield wall for the three-run home run and UNLV couldn't rally at its final at-bat.
STAT OF THE GAME: UNLV lost for just the second time when scoring first in the game and for the first time when leading after four innings. Entering the game, the Rebels had been 22-1 when scoring first and 20-0 when leading after four innings.
REBEL OF THE GAME: After going 1-for-5 in the first two games, Diaz was the top performer at the plate Sunday, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and scored what would have been the game-winning run in the sixth. She was also stellar in the field, turning a double play in the second and making several other great plays at short.
UP NEXT: The Rebels will be back on the road next weekend, April 12-14, for a big series at first-place Colorado State, who is 11-1 in conference play. Series first pitch set for Friday at 3 p.m. PT in Fort Collins, Colorado.
REBEL NOTES:
* UNLV is now 19-57 against Fresno State all time
* The 26-9 record through 35 games is tied for third-best record through 35 games in program history with the 1996 squad. The 1995 squad owns the best mark and at 28-7 and the 1991 squad is second at 27-8
* UNLV needs seven wins to match last year's total of 33 with 15 games still left to play, while head coach
Kristie Fox needs just seven wins to reach 200 total in her head coaching career
* Two hitting streaks came to an end this weekend as
Mia Trejo's nine gamer ended Saturday and
Kiley Harrison's nine-gamer came to an end Sunday
* Trejo may have been quiet in games two and three, but she's still been on fire during conference play .500 with 16 hits, 10 runs scored and four home runs
* UNLV committed just its 23rd error of the season and is now 7-5 when committing one error in a game
* Rebels still continue to outscore its opponents 190-78
