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BB: Rebels Upset No. 2 Seed New Mexico, 6-3
BOX SCORE
Facebook
TwitterMay 26, 2010
Courtesy UNLVRebels.com
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - UNLV baseball earned another upset over a higher seed at the 2010 Conoco Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship, as the fifth-seeded Rebels beat No. 2 New Mexico, 6-3, on Wednesday at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
UNLV used a four-run third inning to jump out to the lead and Matt Hutchison (6-4) made that stand up, giving up three runs on eight hits in 8.1 innings on the mound. Although he gave up a run to the Lobos in each of the first three frames, Hutchison avoided the big inning, striking out one and walking three on the day.
The Rebels, who improved to 29-27 overall, will now play the winner of No. 1 TCU and No. 6 Utah on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. (PT) for a spot in the championship game on Friday evening. New Mexico dropped to 35-19 on the year and falls into the losers bracket.
"It is great when you get quality starts and Matt Hutchison did an outstanding job today," UNLV head coach Buddy Gouldsmith said. "He did good damage control early on and gave us a chance to punch and score some runs. Our offense executed well and we also took care of the baseball."
In the pivotal third, the Rebels put their first two runners of the inning on in front of an RBI single by Jarred Frierson, which tied the game at two. Following a sacrifice bunt, Hunter Beaty was hit by a pitch to load the bases and UNM starter Willy Kesler balked, moving everyone up 90 feet and scoring another run for UNLV. Kesler struck out Kyle Kretchmer for the second out of the inning but R.J. Arnold singled through the right side to score two, giving his team a 5-2 advantage.
UNM got a run back in the bottom of the third on Ryan Honeycutt's solo home run to right field, but UNLV answered that with a run of its own in the fourth, with Cash Thomas scoring on a fielder's choice.
The three-run cushion would be more than enough for Hutchison, who pitched into the ninth inning, getting the first out before allowing two men to reach base, which ended his day. Glenn DeWeese came on in relief and he struck out Justin Howard looking on a full count and then induced a game-ending fly out to right field off the bat of Rafael Neda to end the game.
It was DeWeese's third save of the season, and it preserved a strong effort by Hutchison.
"My mindset coming in was to let my defense work and as long as I kept the ball down, I thought I would be alright," Hutchison said. "Getting through the first part of the game only giving up a few runs was critical, because after that I settled in as was able to go as far as I did."
UNLV collected nine hits on the afternoon, all singles, and Frierson and Arnold each drove in two runs. UNM finished the game with eight hits and committed two errors, compared to just one by the Rebels.
ALL TIMES MOUNTAIN
