RENO, Nev. (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV baseball team (No. 3 seed) defeated intrastate rival UNR (No. 4 seed), 6-5, Saturday afternoon in an elimination game at the Mountain West Championship at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park. With the score knotted at 5-all, Rebel right fielder
Max Smith stepped up to the plate and crushed the first pitch he saw from Wolf Pack (30-26) reliever Bradley Bonnenfant (6-4) over the outfield fence for a walk-off home run.
With the win, the Scarlet & Gray (29-28) advances to face No. 23 Fresno State, the top seed of the tournament, in the first of two possible MW Championship title games. A Rebel victory would force a winner-take-all contest Sunday at 1:00 pm; meanwhile, a triumph by the Bulldogs would conclude tourney play.
The affair featured three lead changes and three ties, and the largest lead being two runs by UNLV, 3-1 after the first-inning of play. The Wolf Pack was only able to push ahead by one run twice.
The majority of the scoring – nine of 11 runs – occurred over the first three frames. UNR got things started with an RBI single from Conor Allard; however, UNLV countered with three run-producing singles from
Dillon Johnson, Smith and
Austin Pfeifer. The teams combined to score five times in the third, as the Wolf Pack's run came from RBI hits from Tyler Bosetti and Jaylon McLaughlin as well as a groundout by Daniel Perry, while the Rebels countered with a two-run double from Pfeifer.
The game remained a one-run affair, 5-4, in favor of UNLV until the top of the seventh when Allard hit a solo homer off of Rebel reliever
Paul Richy.
Smith's game-winning hit to leadoff the ninth came after the Rebels left a total of five runners on base in their seventh- and eighth-inning at-bats, with three of those stranded in scoring position.
Jackson Cofer (3-2) earned the win in 1.1 innings of relief. Cofer entered the contest with two runners on in the top of the eighth, but recorded a strikeout to get out of the frame. He tossed a perfect ninth, recording two groundouts and one fly out.
Bonnenfant was tagged with the loss after giving up the homer to Smith in the ninth. He threw 1.2 innings with one run off of one hit, while walking two and striking out two.
REBEL(S) OF THE GAME: Smith and Pfeifer combined for five hits, five RBI and two runs scored in the Rebel victory over the Wolf Pack. The former reached base safely in four of five plate appearances with two hits and two walks, and added two RBI and two runs, while the latter had three base hits and knocked in three RBI.
STAT OF THE GAME: UNLV's 4-5-6 batters combined to hit 8-for-12 with five RBI and three runs.
Edarian Williams – like Smith and Pfeifer – also had the third multiple-hit game for the Rebels, with three hits and one run.
QUOTABLE: "That was a great, grind-out team win," said head coach
Stan Stolte. "We had two tough teams that were playing their hearts out to survive. Our bullpen was great and, obviously, Max (Smith) stepped up like the winner he is!"
SILVER STATE SHOWDOWN: Saturday's contest served as a tiebreaker of sorts between the Rebels and Wolf Pack to decide the awardee of the three points associated with the sport towards the Silver State Series standings. With baseball's win, UNLV upped its overall lead to 18 points (31.5 to 13.5) in the all-encompassing head-to-head athletic and academic competition, which is presented by IBEW and Nevada Donor Network.
With only three points for the NCAA APR left to be divvied out and the Rebels owning an insurmountable 18-point edge, UNLV has clinched its sixth triumph over UNR dating back to the inaugural campaign in 2012-13. The Rebels claimed wins in 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2017-18, and tied UNR once (2016-17).
