March 30, 2003
Las Vegas - Ryan Ruiz's two-run double in the bottom of the 12th inning lifted UNLV to a 10-9 win over San Diego State Sunday afternoon at Earl E. Wilson Stadium in Las Vegas. Ruiz's heroics negated two runs by the Aztecs in the top of the 12th that had given SDSU a 9-7 lead.
With the win, UNLV improved to 22-9 on the season and 7-2 in the Mountain West Conference as it moves into a tie with New Mexico for the league lead. The loss dropped San Diego State to 13-18 overall and 6-3 in conference play.
After the Rebels had tied the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the seventh, the game remained deadlocked as SDSU's Ronnie Lindsey and UNLV's James Thompson allowed little in the way of offense through the 11th inning. Lindsey went 6.2 innings, allowing four runs on four hits while striking out nine. Thompson, meanwhile, pitched five innings, giving up just one hit while striking out five.
However, when Thompson left the game in the 12th, the Aztecs scored a pair of runs off relievers Jason Guerra and Ryan Braun. Garrett Cook's two-out double scored Landon Burt from second base, and Cook scored on Ryan Wilson's single to give SDSU a 9-7 lead.
In the bottom of the 12th, Lindsey gave up a one-out single to Fernando Valenzuela and a walk to Eric Nielsen before giving way to reliever Ryan Heil. Heil was greeted by a double off the bat of Patrick Dobson that brought Valenzuela home and put runners on second and third. Rebel second baseman Ryan Ruiz then hit a double down the right field line to bring home the tying and winning runs for UNLV.
Despite giving up a run on two hits to SDSU in the 12th, Ryan Braun picked up the win to improve to 3-1 on the season. SDSU's Ryan Heil took the loss to fall to 0-2.
For the Aztecs, Peter Stonard had four hits on the afternoon with James Guerrero adding three more. Garrett Cook, who had a bases-clearing double in SDSU's five-run fifth inning, finished with a pair of hits and four runs batted in.
Up next for San Diego State is a three-game series with Brigham Young that starts Thursday night (April 3) at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
UNLV 10, San Diego State 9 (12 inn.)SDSU 001 051 000 002 - 9 14 0UNLV 002 030 200 003 - 10 12 2Carque, Lindsey (5), Heil (12) and SwaydanVose, Lesko (5), Scheinbaum (6), Thompson (7), Guerra (12), Braun (12) and VanKirkW - Braun (3-1)L - Heil (0-2)Sv - NoneHR - UNLV: Dobson (5th-one on)Att. - 814Time - 4:12