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Top-Seeded UNLV Advances To Championship Game The Rebels and Cougars will battle for MWC title Saturday afternoon.
May 27, 2005 SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The No. 1-seeded UNLV Rebels advanced to Saturday's championship round with a 14-3 win over No. 3 seed San Diego State Friday night in the Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament at Franklin Covey Field. UNLV (32-27) broke open a 3-3 ballgame in the sixth inning, en route to the 11-run victory. The Rebels sent 12 batters to the plate in the decisive sixth frame, scoring eight runs on six hits and one SDSU error. Zeke Parraz and Chris Bonnell opened the inning with a single and double, respectively. That knocked Aztec starter Will Miller out of the game. Jake Suwyn took over on the mound for San Diego State and struggled. UNLV's Ryan Bird greeted Suwyn with a two-run single to left-center, plating Parraz and Bonnell with what would end up being the game-winning hit.
Justin Tellam, Ryan Kowalski, Mike Cruz, Zeke Parraz and Bonnell all came up with RBIs in the inning. After six innings, the Rebels held an 11-3 win. That was more than enough offense for UNLV starter Derek Rodriguez, who evened his record at 5-5 with the victory. Rodriguez tossed eight innings, allowing three runs on four hits, while recording eight strikeouts. Chris Huseman took over in the ninth, after Rodriguez tossed 132 pitches.
SDSU (26-35) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. James Guerrero homered to right-center with two outs to put the Aztecs on the board first. UNLV answered with two runs in the second. Tyler Beranek's RBI groundout tied it at 1-1, while Matt Fry's sacrifice fly gave the Rebels a 2-1 lead. UNLV went up 3-1 in the fifth when Fry wrapped a leadoff home run around the right-field foul pole. San Diego State tied it at 3-3 in the top of the sixth. The Aztecs got a leadoff single from Jordan Swaydan, who later scored to make it 3-2. Cruz's sacrifice fly then knotted the game at 3-3, setting up the Rebels' big inning in the bottom half. Efren Navarro Jr. hit a pinch-hit three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth to account for the final deficit. Miller suffered the loss for San Diego State, as his record dropped to 1-5. He tossed five innings and allowed five runs on six hits. Guerrero had two of the Aztecs' five hits. Bonnell was 3-for-4 at the plate to lead UNLV, scoring two runs and tallying one RBI. Bird was 2-for-4, scoring and driving in a pair of runs. UNLV will face BYU, the No. 2 seed, at 3 p.m. in Saturday's championship round. Should UNLV win that game, a second, winner-take-all contest between the Rebels and Cougars would be played at 7 p.m.
Game No. 9 Notes Saturday's finalists, UNLV and BYU, are two of the three MWC teams to go 4-0 in the MWC Tournament: UNLV in 2003 and 2004, and BYU in 2002. San Diego State also went 4-0 on the way to the MWC Tournament crown in 2000. UNLV's Chris Bonnell went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored to lead the Rebels to the victory. On the season, Bonnell hit .484 (15-for-31) vs. the Aztecs. UNLV's Mike Cruz had his 13 game hitting streak snapped after going 0-for-3 vs. San Diego State. San Diego State was led by James Guerrero who went 2-for-3 from the plate with a home run, double, two RBI and a run scored. SDSU leads the all-time series vs. UNLV, 45-32, but the Rebels have a 6-1 mark vs. the Aztecs in MWC Tournament play, including tonight's 14-3 win. The SDSU loss ensures that the Aztecs will not participate in the finals of the MWC Tournament for the first time since the inception of the league. The No. 1 seed is 2-2 all-time in MWC Tournament title games, while the No. 2 seed is 1-2. BYU (2001) and UNLV (2003) won titles as No. 1 seeds, while the top-seeded Aztecs were runner-up in 2002 and 2004. San Diego State was runner-up in 2001 and 2003 as the No. 2 seed. The Cougars also won the title as a No. 3 seed in 2002. The winner of Saturday's MWC Championship game will earn an automatic bid to the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Overall the MWC has a 4-8 record in the NCAA Tournament since the league was formed in 1999-2000. UNLV (2003 and 2004) and BYU (2001 and 2002) are the only MWC teams to appear in the NCAA Tournament since the league was formed in 1999.
Game No. 9 Quotes UNLV Head Coach Buddy Gouldsmith: "We have struggled with and battled BYU all year and we don't want to lose to this team again. We have had a tough time with BYU but we look forward to the challenge tomorrow." UNLV Senior Pitcher Derek Rodriguez:
San Diego State Head Coach Tony Gwynn: "We couldn't make a pitch tonight. We made 99 errors in 59 games and that basically is our season. Pitching, catching and mistakes were our downfalls this season. We have a lot of work to do but this is a huge challenge and I'm looking forward to it." |
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