SAN JOSE, Calif. (UNLVrebels.com) – After taking down UC Riverside earlier in the week, the UNLV baseball team (23-18, 10-12 MW) kicked off their three-game series on Friday against San Jose State (16-24, 11-11). The Rebels overtook the Spartans in a low-scoring, defensive battle on a 2-1 final score.
Kade Higgins' home run in the contest proved to be the difference maker on the night, picking up the program's two runs with the shot to right-center field. The two-RBI hit would score
Austin Kryszczuk from second base who shot a double down the left-field line earlier in the inning. The junior's homer took back the lead in the top of the fourth inning right after SJSU claimed a lead of their own with a home run in the bottom of the third.
The Scarlet & Gray's pitching staff dueled the Spartans all night,
Austin Cates stretching another strong quality start with seven innings of work on the day. The Mountain West's strikeout leader tossed another double-digit outing under the Friday-night lights, fanning 10 San Jose State batters while only allowing the one home run in 30 batters faced.
Matthew Maloney would clean up the Rebels' final two innings with a quality performance of his own, picking up the save while only allowing one hit in the game. Out of the eight batters faced, Maloney struck out two of them.
The Rebels applied pressure all game on the bases with a handful of other hits,
JP Hefft,
Chase Ditmar,
Santino Panaro and
Paul Myro IV all registering a hit in the contest. Hefft, Ditmar and Myro IV's base hits would be marked as a double, the team also compiling five free trips to first base on walks.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Cates' 10 strikeouts on Friday night marked his sixth start this year with double-digits, the fourth time in his last five starts.
- Higgins' long ball pushed the 11th of his career, the Las Vegas native totaling four now during the 2024 season.
- Kryszczuk's double in the fourth inning now places him at 17 on the year.
- UNLV's streak of 195-consecutive games of scoring at least one run in a contest continues, a streak stretching back to the 2021 season.
UP NEXT
UNLV will face off against the Spartans next on Saturday, April 27 out west, playing the second of the team's three games over the weekend. The two teams are set with a first-pitch time set at 2 p.m. PT as the Rebels chase a spot in the Mountain West Tournament.
