SAN DIEGO (UNLVrebels.com) – Riding a three-game win streak entering Friday-night's contest, the UNLV baseball team (18-15, 6-10 MW) started their three-game against San Diego State (10-23, 4-12) to kick off the weekend. The Rebels showed a strong outing on both offense and defense in the contest, claiming the win on a 9-2 final score.
The UNLV pitching crew tied their season-high in strikeouts as a team, totaling 15 across the nine innings.
Austin Cates produced a season-high count for the Hustlin' Rebels in his eight innings of work, fanning 13 Aztec batters at the plate in his second-straight eight-inning appearance. The junior had a stretch in the game starting in the bottom of the fourth where eight-consecutive outs stemmed from Cates on the mound via strikeouts.
Joey Acosta closed the game for the team in the ninth inning, closing out San Diego State with two strikeouts of his own in 15 pitches thrown.
The Scarlet & Gray had several strong hitters in the game as well,
Austin Kryszczuk leading the team with four hits in five at bats. He'd total eight bases in the four hits he put together, driving in three RBIs off a home run in the top of the second, a double in the fourth and a single in the sixth.
Rylan Charles would also have a strong day running the bases, putting up three hits as the only other multi-hit batter in the lineup. He'd run through home plate three times in the contest, also picking up an RBI off a single in the second inning.
Kade Higgins gathered an RBI as well off of a sacrifice fly in the second inning.
The Rebels picked up two unconventional runs in the game off of hit-by-pitches,
Paul Myro IV and
Isaac Rodriguez being credited an RBI after they picked up the painful free trip to first. The order tallied seven walks during the contest in their at bats,
Parker Schmidt earning two of his own to lead the team.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Cates' 13 strikeouts on Friday marked his fifth time of the season garnering double-digits in the statistical category in an outing.
- Kryszczuk's trio of RBIs against San Diego State marked the fourth time this season the graduate student has had three or more in a single contest.
- The team-leading three runs by Charles is the second time the senior outfielder has picked up three in a single game, tying his high for the year.
UP NEXT
UNLV will take on San Diego State for the second of three games on Saturday, April 13 at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The game was rescheduled earlier today for a new start time of 1 p.m. PT. To catch updates on all things Rebels, check out the team's official
X (formerly known as Twitter),
Instagram and
Facebook pages, as well as
UNLVrebels.com.
