RENO, Nev. (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV baseball team was on the wrong end of a pair of close decisions against the UNR Wolf Pack at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park Saturday. The Rebels came up short in the Mountain West doubleheader, as the Wolf Pack claimed game one by one run, 6-5, and the second by two scores, 10-8.
 
The Rebels (16-10 overall, 11-9 MW) and the Wolf Pack (17-16, 14-9 MW) return to the diamond, once more, Sunday to close out the season series between the Silver State squads. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 pm.
 
UNLV was paced offensively by Jack-Thomas Wold and Brendan Brooks in the twin bill. Wold posted a .625 batting average with five hits and added four RBI and four runs. More impressively, Wold amassed a 1.875 slugging percentage with four of his hits going for extra bases with three home runs and one double. Brooks, on the other hand, hit .500 with four hits, two of which went for extra bases with one homer and one double, and chipped in three RBI and two runs.
 
In all, the Rebels hit .342 as a team with eight players recording at least two hits on the day.
 
GAME ONE RECAP: UNR jumped out to an early two-run lead, 2-0, after it scored once in both the first and second innings; however, UNLV's offense awoke in the middle frames with help from the long ball. Wold got the Rebels on the scoreboard in the fourth with a solo homer, while Brooks hit a three-run shot in the fifth to push UNLV ahead by two, 4-2. Rylan Charles, a native of Reno, upped the lead to three runs, 5-2, with his first career homer in the sixth.
 
Unfortunately, things turned for the worse in the home half of the sixth when Dillon Shrum led off with a solo homer off Bradley Spooner (4-3) and Tyler Bosetti hit a go-ahead, three-run double off reliever Troy Balko.
 
Spooner was saddled with the loss after going 5.0 innings and striking out six against six runs off nine hits and one walk. Balko threw the final 3.0 innings of relief with four strikeouts and three hits allowed.
 
Shane Gustafson (3-2) picked up the win in 4.1 innings of relief for UNR, striking out four and only giving up one run off four hits. Starter Alejandro Murillo earned a no-decision after going the initial 4.2 frames, striking out three and allowing four runs off five hits and two walks.
 
GAME TWO RECAP: UNLV led on two occasions early on, but nine unanswered runs by UNR over its third through six inning at-bats put enough distance between the two squads in the contest.
 
The Rebels grabbed an early 1-0 lead off a solo homer from Wold in the first, but the Wolf Pack countered in the second with a sac fly to even the score. UNLV regained the edge – albeit briefly – in the third off a pair of run-scoring hits from Diego Alarcon (double) and Wold (single). UNR answered back in its half of the third with three runs off a two-run single from Landon Wallace and an RBI double from Anthony Flores.
 
The Wolf Pack offense wound up putting up three more runs on the scoreboard in the fourth and then three more between the fifth and sixth to go ahead by seven runs, 10-3.
 
After being held scoreless for three frames, UNLV got its offense going again, hitting three home runs to pull within two, 10-8. Jason Hare and Edarian Williams went back-to-back in the seventh off two different pitchers, as UNR starter Jake Jackson (3-3) gave up a three-run blast to the former, while reliever Kade Morris gave up the solo shot to the latter. Two innings later, Wold got a comeback bid started with a solo homer off reliever Tyler Cochran, who wound up giving up two-out singles to Williams and Myles Denson to make things interesting before getting the final out to line out to center field.
 
UNLV's Alex Tisminezky started the game and threw the initial 2.0 innings before giving way to reliever Noah Matter (1-1), who was handed the loss after he gave up three runs off five hits. In all, the Rebels used a total of six pitchers in the affair.
 
Jackson earned the win after throwing 6.2 innings and striking out three against six runs off 12 hits and two walks. Cochran earned his fifth save of the season after he struck out three in 2.0 innings of relief; however, he did allow one run off four hits.
 
NOTES:
-Mountain West Update: UNLV dropped to third after Saturday's results, while San Diego State (16-10 MW) and UNR moved to first and second, respectively, after each won twice. SDSU beat San Jose State at home in San Diego.
-UNLV has now lost three straight contests after its season-best eight-game win streak.
-UNLV has now suffered three consecutive losses to UNR after initially claiming the first two games of the season in Las Vegas at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.
-Denson extended his team-best reached base streak to 19 games, and his hit streak to 18 games after Saturday's doubleheader. Since game one of the San Diego State series on March 13, he is batting .414 (29-for-70) with seven multiple-hit outings. Nine of his 29 hits have gone for extra bases (five home runs and four doubles) and produced a .686 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 18-game hit streak is the longest since Bryson Stott strung together an 18-game stretch during the 2018 campaign.
-Wold upped his hitting streak to 12 games. During this stretch, he is hitting .460 (23-for-50) with six multiple-hit games. Ten of his 23 hits have gone for extra bases (seven homers and three doubles) and produced a .940 slugging percentage, while those hits and seven walks have resulted in a .526 on-base percentage. He's also added 18 runs and 13 RBI.
 
SILVER STATE SERIES: Sunday's contest between UNLV and UNR will decide the distribution of the three points associated with the sport of baseball in the Silver State Series presented by IBEW and Nevada Donor Network. To date, the Wolf Pack holds a 3-2 edge through five games with one contest left to be played. A Rebel win would split the points in half and award each team's respective athletics department 1.5 points; however, all three go to the Wolf Pack with a victory.