LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – Although it took a week longer than expected, the UNLV baseball team (2-0) couldn't have asked for a better start to the 2021 season with its sweep of Saturday's doubleheader against the UNR Wolf Pack (3-3) at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. The host Rebels claimed game one in walk-off fashion, 3-2, before cruising to a decisive, 8-3 victory in the finale of the twin bill between Mountain West foes.
The Scarlet & Gray batted .315 as team, with four members hitting .375 or better with a minimum of three hits. Diego Alarcon led all Rebels in average (.500), runs (three), hits (five) and total bases (eight), while tying for the top spot in at-bats (10). Eric Bigani and Brendan Brooks scattered four hits apiece, while the former hit .444 (4-for-9) with two runs and two RBI to the latter's .400 average (4-for-10) with two RBI and one run scored.
On the mound, Jimmy Gamboa (1-0) and Conner Woods (1-0) were credited with the wins on the mound. Gamboa came out of the bullpen in the ninth of game one and threw two pitches en route to his first win as a Rebel, while Woods threw 4.0 scoreless innings of relief with seven strikeouts in game two.
GAME 1 RECAP: UNLV opened the game with two runs in the home half of the first inning off RBI singles from Alarcon and Austin Pfeifer. The contest would remain 2-0 in favor of the Rebels until the ninth when UNR's Dylan Shrum led off with a fly ball to center field that was dropped. The Wolf Pack used a walk and a sacrifice bunt to push runners into scoring position before Anthony Flores and Wyatt Tilley produced a sac fly and an RBI single, respectively. The Rebels countered in their half of the ninth, getting a walk-off single from Bigani after Alarcon and Jack-Thomas Wold moved into scoring position after a two-out single and a four-pitch walk.
Maddux stymied the Wolf Pack offense in his first outing of 2021, nearly going the distance for the complete game. He wound up throwing 8.2 innings and a total of 88 pitches (65 strikes) with five strikeouts against two unearned runs, five hits and two walks. Through eight innings of work, he only allowed two runners to reach scoring position, with both stranded at second base.
GAME 2 RECAP: UNLV jumped out to an early three-run lead, scoring off a fielding error, a sac fly from Alex Amelburu and an RBI single from Brooks. UNR pulled within one, 3-2, in the third off a pair of RBI singles, but that was as close as it would get, as James Gamble got one run back with a solo home run in the fifth. The Rebels added three insurance runs in the eighth when Alarcon (triple), Wold (RBI double) and Bigani (RBI double) produced three straight, one-out extra-base hits and Kryszczuk had an RBI single. The Wolf Pack scored the game's final tally in the ninth.
NOTES:
-With Saturday's sweep, UNLV upped its lead in the head-to-head series with UNR to 90-68.
-UNLV has won three straight games over UNR dating back to the final meeting of 2019 (May 25).
UP NEXT: The Rebels and Wolf Pack close out their three-game, conference series Sunday at Wilson Stadium. UNLV's Josh Sharman and UNR's Owen Sharts will get the starts for their respective teams, with first pitch scheduled for 11:05 am.
