May 16, 2002
Las Vegas - UNLV's Robbie Van shut down San Diego State on three hits over seven innings as the Rebels defeated San Diego, 12-1, Thursday night at Earl Wilson Stadium in Las Vegas. Van (7-5), last week's conference Pitcher of the Week, struck out four and shut out SDSU over seven innings to secure the victory.
As a result, UNLV improves to 28-26 overall and 13-15 in Mountain West Conference play. The win, combined with New Mexico's loss at Brigham Young, means the Rebels can finish no lower that fifth in the final standings. The loss drops SDSU's record to 38-21 (18-10 MWC).
UNLV opened the scoring in the third with a run on a double by Jason Reuss and an RBI single by Ryan Ruiz. They added four more in the fourth on five hits and an error. The Rebels got a two-run single from Tony Schuler and an RBI single by Reuss in the inning. The five UNLV runs through the fourth came off Aztec starter Rory Shortell, who saw his record drop to 7-6.
The Aztecs lone run came in the eighth when Jon Stephens reached on an error, Josh Hill singled, and Jake McLintock followed with an RBI single.
What hopes SDSU had of a late comeback were quashed when the Rebels scored seven times in the bottom of the eighth. UNLV sent 12 men to the plate, capping off the inning with a three-run homer to center field by Joe Wickman. He finished his night with four hits while teammate Jason Reuss had three hits and scored twice.
The Aztecs and Rebels continue their three-game series on Friday with game time set for 6:30 p.m. (PDT). Chris Dunwell (8-3, 3.68) will get the start for the Aztecs while the Rebels will send Courtney Hall (3-2, 5.85) to the mound.
The game can be heard live on the Internet beginning with the Aztec pregame show at 6:20 p.m.
UNLV 8, San Diego State 9SDSU 000 000 010 - 1 5 2UNLV 001 400 07x - 12 17 1Shortell, Fiedler (6), Harang (8) and ManfredVan, Weinberg (8), Gann (9) and Nepa, VanKirk (8)W - Van (7-5)Shortell (7-6)Sv - NoneHR - UNLV: Wickman (8th-two on)Att. - 447Time -