April 11, 2009
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - UNLV scored three runs in the eighth inning to defeat San Diego State and avoid a series sweep at the hands of the Aztecs Saturday afternoon at Earl E. Wilson Stadium in Las Vegas. That rally thwarted an SDSU comeback that saw it erase an early four-run deficit to tie the score in the top of the same frame.
The loss dropped San Diego State (25-12 overall, 8-4 MWC) into a virtual three-way tie for first place in the Mountain West Conference with TCU and New Mexico. The win improved the Rebels to 16-18 on the season (5-7 MWC).
Aztec starter Tyler Lavigne, who came into the contest with a 2.40 earned run average, was without his best staff and UNLV took advantage of that fact to score four times in the opening frame. Those runs came on four hits, a walk and a hit batter.
San Diego State began its comeback with single runs in the second on an RBI double by Chris Wilson and in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Ryan O'Sullivan.
After the Rebels added a run to their total in the bottom of the fourth to make it a 5-2 contest, the Aztecs drew to within a run when they put a pair on the board in the sixth. Cory Vaughn's leadoff triple was followed by a double from Mitch Blackburn who would score on another RBI single by Wilson to make it 5-4.
UNLV countered with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning to take a 6-4 lead, but SDSU would not give in. In the seventh, Brandon Decker singled, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single up the middle by Erik Castro. The visitors finally tied the score at 6-6 one inning later as Wilson connected for a solo home run, his third of the season.
UNLV's three-run outburst in the bottom of the eighth came against Aztec reliever Craig Rasmussen, who had come on in relief of Lavigne two innings earlier. The sophomore left-hander gave up two hits, a walk, hit one batter and balked home a run before being relieved by Kegan Sharp, who also hit a batter and gave up an RBI single before closing out the inning. Rasmussen was tagged with the loss to even his record at 1-1.
Rebel reliever Marc Baca, who tossed the final three innings and had given up the tying run in the top of the eighth, benefitted from the rally as he was credited with the win to improve to 2-0.
SDSU's Chris Wilson finished the afternoon with three hits including a double and homer along with driving in three of his team's six runs. Cory Vaughn (triple, two runs scored) and Mitch Blackburn (double, run scored, RBI) had two hits apiece for the Aztecs as well.
Up next for the Aztecs is a non-conference contest against UCLA on Tuesday, April 14, at 6:00 p.m. (PT) at Tony Gwynn Stadium.