RENO, Nev. (UNLVRebels.com) - In a rubber match with the series on the line, UNLV baseball couldn't capitalize on early opportunities and watched UNR steadily pull away for a 9-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park. This series is part of the Silver State Series presented by America First Credit Union.
HOW IT WENT DOWN: UNLV (24-19, 7-11 MW) showed promise in the opening inning when Marcos Rosales laced a leadoff double down the right field line. But UNR (23-17, 12-6 MW) starter Alessandro Castro settled in quickly, retiring the next three hitters to strand the runner and set the tone for a frustrating afternoon offensively. The Hustlin' Rebels threatened again in the second inning, putting two runners on with one out after a Cooper Sheff single and a Jayden Hertel walk. A sacrifice bunt moved both into scoring position, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the rally, keeping the game scoreless.
The Wolf Pack broke through in the bottom half of the second. Jacob Doyle doubled to start the inning and came around to score on Jackson Waller's RBI double to left, giving UNR a 1-0 lead. That margin held until the fourth, when UNR delivered the decisive blow. After a pair of baserunners reached, Jake Harvey crushed a three-run homer to deep left field, extending the lead to 4-0 and shifting momentum firmly in the Wolf Pack's favor. The hosts added on in the fifth with another big swing.
Following a walk and a single, Doyle launched a three-run homer down the left field line, stretching the advantage to 7-0 and chasing UNLV starter Josh Donegan from the game. UNR continued to tack on, with Jayce Dobie homering in the sixth and Junhyuk Kwon adding a solo shot in the seventh to make it 9-0. UNLV finally broke through in the seventh inning. Hertel doubled to left and came home on Reggie Bussey's RBI double to left-center, accounting for the Rebels' lone run of the day.
QUOTABLE: "Bad bounce back game after a hard fought win on Saturday. We really grinded yesterday to win that one and today I thought we were soft. Tough team to play in these conditions, they live and die by the home run and it played right into their hands. We had a couple of our better players have bad weekends offensively, but I'll give their pitching coach Mark Moriarty credit, he really does a good job."
-Head Coach Stan Stolte
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
-With Drew Barragan's single in the eighth inning, the redshirt senior has now reached base in all 42 games he has played in this season and has an on-base streak of 43 games dating back to his time at Western Kentucky last season.
-Rebel batters went 1-for-12 with runners on base.
-Jonny Rodriguez paced the Rebels on the weekend with six RBI on five hits with a .846 slugging percentage.
-Ayden Garcia's seven-game hitting streak came to an end with a strikeout in the seventh inning as a pinch hitter.
-Marcos Rosales, Cooper Sheff, Jayden Hertel, Reggie Bussey and Gunnar Myro all collected one hit apiece.
-Josh Donegan fell to 0-1 on the season as the junior went 4.0 innings giving up four earned runs on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
SILVER STATE SERIES: With the series win for the Wolf Pack, UNR claimed the three points associated with the sport in the Silver State Series presented by America First Credit Union. To date, the Rebels lead the annual Series by 15 points, 25.5 to 10.5, with points for softball, men's golf, women's outdoor track & field and the APR left to be awarded.
UP NEXT: UNLV closes out its four-game road trip in St. George, Utah against Utah Tech on Tuesday, April 28 at 5:05 pm PT, the fourth and final meeting of the season between the two squads before the Trailblazers join the Mountain West in the 2027 season.
