LAS VEGAS (UNLVrebels.com) – The UNLV baseball team (13-9, 2-3 MW) faced off against Fresno State (9-13, 2-3) for the second time in their three-game weekend, looking to clinch the season series between the two programs. The Hustlin' Rebels did just that with another strong showing on the mound, picking up the win at Earl E. Wilson Stadium on a 4-1 final score.
The Scarlet & Gray featured four arms from the bullpen in the Saturday-night showdown,
LJ Mercurius getting the start and win through his five innings of work. The sophomore would strike out six batters while only allowing four hits in total, his final inning in the fifth featured a 1-2-3 sequence, striking out the first and third batter of the inning.
Michael Taylor and
Evan Vasiliou would each toss an inning in relief,
Alex Overbay closing out the game with only one hit allowed across 1.2 innings for the save.
The Rebels picked up two RBIs on their four runs in the contest,
Cole Koniarsky getting an RBI single in the first inning to claim the early lead. UNLV's designated hitter would pick up a second hit in the game, the only batter in the lineup with multiple hits.
Gunnar Myro only registered two official at bats in his four appearances, getting two free trips to first and a jog around the bases with a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Cooper Sheff picked up the only other multi-bag hit in the contest for the Hustlin' Rebels, the redshirt freshman tagging a double to left-center field on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the first inning. His reach to second base eventually led him to score through the Koniarsky single, Koniarsky and Myro each scoring off wild pitches in the first and sixth innings.
"These were two fairly even teams squaring off, but we had a couple things go our way" mentioned head coach
Stan Stolte. "LJ [Mercurius] gave us a strong five innings, which was much needed, and Alex [Overbay] came in and made some key pitches when he had to."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Mercurius' performance shutting down the Bulldogs marked the fourth time this season he's averaged one strikeout or more per innings pitched in a game.
- Myro's batting average continues to climb after Saturday's performance, sitting at a .385 rate after entering the month of March batting .280.
- The Hustlin' Rebels win clinches the season series between the two programs, the last time that UNLV achieved that feat was during the 2022 season where the Rebels won 2-1.
- The program's .207 batting average noted the second-lowest team rate in a single game so far this season in a win, second to their .172 average in the win over no. 23 Cincinnati.
UP NEXT
The Hustlin' Rebels and Bulldogs will have one more crack at each other before the weekend's end, facing off on Sunday, March 23 at 12:05 p.m. PT in Earl E. Wilson Stadium. To get updates on all things Hustlin' Rebels, links to the season's games can be found on the team's
schedule page. You can also get live updates on how the Scarlet & Gray are faring on the team's
X (formerly known as Twitter),
Facebook and
Instagram accounts.
