University of Nevada Las Vegas

PHOENIX, Ariz. (UNLVRebels.com) - In a high-scoring rubber match, the UNLV baseball team defeated Grand Canyon, 14-8, and secured the series victory on Sunday afternoon at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark.

HOW IT WENT DOWN: The Rebels wasted no time getting on the board. After a leadoff triple from Marcos Rosales in the first inning, Drew Barragan brought him home with an RBI double down the right field line to give UNLV (21-15, 5-7 MW) an early 1-0 lead. The Scarlet & Gray extended its advantage in the third inning, as Jonny Rodriguez delivered a clutch two-RBI single to right field, scoring Reggie Bussey and Rosales to push the lead to 3-0. Grand Canyon (12-24, 4-7 MW) answered in the fourth with a two-run homer from Jose Lopez, cutting the deficit to 3-2, but the Rebels quickly responded with their biggest offensive surge of the game.

In the fifth inning, UNLV erupted for five runs on five hits. Ayden Garcia highlighted the frame with a towering two-run home run to deep right field. Later in the inning, Jack Salmon added an RBI single, and Jayden Hertel capped the rally with a two-run single to stretch the lead to 8-2. The Lopes continued to fight, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth, including a two-run blast from Trevor Schmidt, to make it 8-5. However, UNLV again had an answer. The Hustlin' Rebels plated four more runs in the sixth inning, with Nin Burns II delivering a two-RBI double and Salmon adding another two-run single to extend the lead to 12-5.

UNLV added insurance in the eighth inning, scoring twice on RBI singles from Salmon and Bussey to push the advantage to 14-5. Grand Canyon made things interesting late, scoring one run in the eighth and two more in the ninth, but the comeback attempt fell short as UNLV closed out the 14-8 victory.

QUOTABLE: "Was a solid week, went on the road and won three out of four, beat a ranked team at their yard and won a weekend conference series. We have so many areas to clean up though, but we'll take the results. The game we lost on Saturday, there aren't too many teams in the country that could have beat that guy (Chase Frey); he was dominating. Great to have Josh Donegan back in the mix, he will help us."
-Head Coach Stan Stolte

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
-Jack Salmon drove home a season-high four runs in a 3-for-5 afternoon.
-Nin Burns II also went 3-for-5 with one double, two singles, two RBI, one walk and three runs scored.
-Ayden Garcia now has seven home runs this season as the catcher went 2-for-5.
-For the four-game week, Jayden Hertel went 9-for-17 with six RBI, one home run, one double, batted .529, slugged .765 and had an on-base percentage of .556.
-Starter Josh Donegan threw his longest outing of the season (3.2 innings) where the junior two earned runs, four hits, no walks and two strikeouts.
-Reese Lueck notched his second win of the season going 2.1 innings where he surrendered seven hits, three earned runs and one walk.
-Jase Evangelista collected his second save of the season after throwing 3.0 innings where he gave up three earned runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts.