LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV baseball team jumped back into the win column Friday night with an impressive 6-1 victory over the St. John's Red Storm at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. The Rebels (4-10) struck early in the series opener, scoring three in the first inning and once more in the third for an early 4-0 lead on the Red Storm (3-7).
 
The Scarlet & Gray got a dominant performance on the mound from Ryan Hare, who improved to 2-1 on the year behind a solid 7.0 innings of work. Hare struck out six and only gave up one run off of five hits and one walk. More impressively, he only allowed one runner to advance past second base in the contest, stranding two at second and four at first. Hare's only blemish was a two-out solo home run surrendered to Mitchell Henshaw in the sixth.
 
Offensively, the Rebels got 3-for-4 efforts from Eric Bigani and Jack-Thomas Wold. Bigani had a hand in three of UNLV's six runs, knocking in two and scoring one. Wold, who scored a team-high two runs, was one of five Rebels to touch home plate against St. John's. James Gamble and Austin Pfeifer also had two hits apiece, with the former scoring one run and the latter registering one RBI.
 
The Rebels got the scoring started early off back-to-back run-producing doubles from Edarian Williams and Eric Bigani. Gamble and Wold led the inning off with a one-out double and a single, respectively. Williams brought Gamble home with a double to left, and came around to score – with Wold – off Bigani's two-base hit to left center.
 
Pfeifer upped the lead to four runs with an RBI double in the third.
 
UNLV added two insurance tallies in the eighth off an RBI single by Alex Amelburu that also featured a throwing error by St. John's third baseman Justin Folz, allowing a second run to score on the play.
 
QUOTABLE: "Ryan Hare pitched like a Friday guy tonight and our bullpen threw up a couple nice zeroes," said head coach Stan Stolte. "We had some great at-bats in the first inning and also again in the eighth. It was a good, all-around win."
 
NOTES:
-UNLV had four doubles in Friday's game, which marks the third instance the team has scatted four two-base hits: Central Michigan (Feb. 16) and Creighton (Feb. 28).
-UNLV's 13 hits are the second most in a game this season, trailing only the 14 notched against Central Michigan (Feb. 16).
-With Friday's result, UNLV takes a 2-1 lead over St. John's in the all-time head-to-head series.
-With is three hits and two RBI, Bigani registered his eighth multiple-hit and fifth multiple-RBI games of the year. Both of which lead the team.
-UNLV's weekend starting pitching has now registered three straight outings that lasted into the seventh inning, as Chase Maddux and Josh Sharman went 7.2 and 7.1 frames against Creighton last weekend, respectively, and Hare went 7.0 against St. John's.
 
UP NEXT: UNLV continues its homestand with a 2:05 pm contest against St. John's at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. The Rebels and Red Storm will close out the nonconference series Sunday at 1: 05 pm. A two-game, midweek series against Houston will follow Tuesday and Wednesday.