LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV baseball team was unable to complete the series sweep of the Air Force Falcons Sunday afternoon, as the visitors from Colorado Springs, Colorado, managed to salvage the final game of the Mountain West set, 8-6, at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.
The Scarlet & Gray (16-8 overall, 11-7 MW – first place) scored five of the final six runs, but was unable to draw even despite the Falcons (17-18, 9-12 MW) being held scoreless over the final three innings of the contest. The Rebels found themselves trailing 5-0 after three innings of play and by as much as six runs – 7-1 – following the Falcons' fifth-inning at-bat. Things turned around in the home half of the fifth with UNLV scoring twice and then pushing across a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth, while Air Force added an insurance tally in its portion of the sixth.
UNLV was paced offensively by its 5-6-7 batters who combined for five hits, five RBI and three runs.
Edarian Williams led the trio with two hits, two RBI and two runs, while
Myles Denson had one hit, two RBI and one run, and
Austin Kryszczuk had two hits and one RBI.
Jack-Thomas Wold, who was hitting third, also added one RBI and one run off a solo homer.
Air Force got on the scoreboard early, with three runs off three hits and assistance from a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and a passed ball. The Falcons added one run in both the second and third off RBI doubles from Cayden Zimmerman and Trayden Tamiya, respectively.
The Rebels were able to cut into their deficit in the fourth off an RBI single from Kryszczuk; however, the Falcons answered back with a two-run home run from Tommy Gilman in the fifth to extend the edge to six runs. UNLV got two of those runs back in the bottom of the fifth off a two-run double from Williams.
Air Force capped its scoring in the sixth with an RBI groundout from Gabriel Garcia, while UNLV got a solo homer from Wold in the seventh and a two-run blast from Denson in the eighth.
Rob Martin (3-0) picked up the win in 3.0 innings of relief for the Falcons, striking out two against one run off three hits. UNLV's
Noah Beal (2-1) suffered the loss after going 2.0 frames, with three strikeouts against four runs (three earned) off five hits and one walk.
NOTES:
-Denson extended his team-best reached base streak to 17 games, and his hit streak to 16 games Sunday with help from his eighth-inning homer. Since game one of the San Diego State series on March 13, he is batting .443 (27-for-61) with seven multiple-hit outings. Nine of his 27 hits have gone for extra bases (five home runs and four doubles) and produced a .754 slugging percentage, while those hits and six walks have resulted in a .485 on-base percentage. He has also chipped in 17 runs and 14 RBI during this stretch.
-Denson's 16-game hit streak is the longest since Williams strung together a 17-game stretch during the 2019 campaign.
-Wold upped his hitting streak to 10 games with his seventh-inning homer. During this stretch, he is hitting .429 (18-for-42) with five multiple-hit games. Six of his 17 hits have gone for extra bases (four homers and two doubles) and produced a .762 slugging percentage, while those hits and six walks have resulted in a .500 on-base percentage. He's also added 14 runs and nine RBI.
-With only seven hits Sunday, UNLV had its streak of 10 straight contests with double-digit hits snapped.
-With only six runs Sunday, UNLV had its streak of three straight contests with double-digit runs snapped.
-With Sunday's loss, UNLV sits 14-3 in games played at home this season.
UP NEXT: UNLV will travel north to face the UNR Wolf Pack at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park in Reno next weekend. The three-game, two-day Mountain West series will feature a doubleheader Saturday and a single contest Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 pm both days. In addition to the games counting towards the conference standings, they will also determine which side – UNLV or UNR – will claim the three points associated with the sport towards the Silver State Series presented by IBEW and Nevada Donor Network. To date, the Wolf Pack leads the all-encompassing athletic and academic competition by three points, 18.0 to 15.0; however, the Rebels hold a one-game edge over UNR after they won two of three baseball games in Las Vegas earlier this season.
