May 2, 2003
San Diego - UNLV scored five unanswered runs over the first five innings and went on to defeat San Diego State, 7-3, Friday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. With the victory the Rebels (36-12, 19-3 MWC) opened a six-game lead on SDSU (21-26, 13-9 MWC), which fell into third place after the loss.
UNLV's Garret Shitanishi opened the game with a walk and promptly stole second. After advancing to third on an error, he scored on a sacrifice fly by Patrick Dobson. The visitors added two more in the second, courtesy of a two-run homer off the bat of shortstop Peter White, his fifth of the season. The Rebels then scored single runs in the third and fifth, getting RBI's from Brent Johnson and Fernando Valenzuela to take a 5-0 lead.
The Aztecs got on the board in their half of the sixth, opening the inning with consecutive singles by Josh Allen, Anthony Gwynn, Landon Burt and James Guerrero. In addition to Guerrero, SDSU also got RBI's by Jon Stephens (on a bases-loaded walk) and Chad Corona (on a fielder's choice) to make it a 5-3 game.
However, that's as close as San Diego would get as the Rebels came back with a pair of insurance runs in the seventh.
UNLV starter Jason Van went seven innings to improve to 6-4 on the year, striking out nine along the way. Ryan Braun recorded his seventh save, getting the final two outs in the ninth in relief of Jason Guerra. SDSU's Mike Moat (4-5) took the loss.
Anthony Gwynn was perfect at the plate on the evening for the Aztecs, going 4-for-4 and being hit by pitch while Landon Burt contributed a pair of singles. Stephen Ghutzman, Fernando Valenzuela and Peter White had two hits apiece for UNLV.
The Aztecs and Rebels continue their three-game series on Saturday (May 3) at 1:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The game can be heard live at www.goaztecs.com.
UNLV 7, San Diego State 3UNLV 121 010 200 - 7 10 0SDSU 000 003 000 - 3 9 3Van, Guerra (8), Braun (9) and VanKirkMoat, Harang (7), Eigenhuis (9) and AllenW - Van (6-4)L - Moat (4-5)Sv - Braun (7)HR - UNLV: White (2nd- one on)Att. - 766Time: 3:00