May 23, 2013
FRESNO, Calif. - One swing of the bat was the difference as Brandon Bayardi's grand slam home run gave UNLV all the runs it needed as the Rebels defeated San Diego State, 6-3, Thursday afternoon at the Mountain West Tournament in Fresno.
The Aztecs (27-29) took a 2-0 lead by manufacturing runs in the first and fourth innings. In the opening frame, Greg Allen's leadoff double was cashed in on an RBI single by Tim Zier. In the fourth, Ryan Muno walked, was sacrificed to second and scored on a two-out single by Brad Haynal.
SDSU starting pitcher Michael Cederoth eased his way through the first four innings as he retired 11 in a row at one point. It all came unraveled, however, in the bottom of the fifth when a single, double and walk loaded the bases for UNLV before T.J. White delivered an RBI single to make cut the Aztecs' lead to 2-1. Bayardi then stepped up and belted his four-run homer to left center that gave the Rebels a 5-2 lead.
Cederoth retired the next three batters to finish out the inning, but it was the end of the contest for the sophomore right-hander whose line read five innings pitched while allowing five runs on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts. He would eventually be charged with the loss to fall to 3-8 on the season.
After surrendering SDSU's second run in the fourth, Rebel starting pitcher Erick Fedde held SDSU in check and would go a total of 8.1 innings to record the victory and improved to 7-3. Along the way he was charged with three runs on seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
SDSU's third run against Fedde came in the top of the eighth when Zier was hit by pitch and advanced to second on Muno's infield single. Zier took third on Ty France's fly ball to right and scored on a sac fly to center off the bat of Haynal.
After UNLV reliever Brayden Torres walked the leadoff hitter in the top of the ninth, freshman right-hander Kenny Oakley came on and retired next three batters to secure the victory for the Rebels and record his first save of the year.
Greg Allen and Ryan Muno ended the afternoon with two hits apiece for SDSU while teammate Brad Haynal had a pair of runs batted in.
San Diego State's next game will be an elimination contest at 3:00 p.m. on Friday (May 24) against the winner of the 11:00 a.m. game between Fresno State and Nevada.