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Fifth-Seeded New Mexico Defeats Fourth-Seeded UNLV, 17-2, At The MWC Baseball Tournament With the win, Lobos move on to the winner's bracket to face top-seed TCU. May 23, 2006 LAS VEGAS - The fifth-seeded New Mexico Lobos (29-27) defeated the UNLV Rebels (27-29) 17-2 on Tuesday night in the third game of the Mountain West Conference Tournament held in Las Vegas, Nev. With the win, the Lobos advanced to a winner's bracket contest against the top-seeded TCU Horned Frogs (35-21) on Wednesday evening at 7:30 pm PST. The Rebels drop into an elimination bracket game at 4 pm PST Wednesday against the winner San Diego State/Air Force (9 am PST). UNLV jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead with two singles and a fielder's choice in the first inning. Chris Bonnell brought home the first run of the game on a fielder's choice ground ball hit to first base. Ryan Kowalski, who opened the game with a single, scored from third base on the play. New Mexico took a 4-1 lead in the top of the second with help from four Rebel errors. All four runs that scored for the Lobos were unearned. The inning began with a walk to Ian Hollick and then back-to-back errors on grounders gave UNM its first two runs. With a runner at third, Jordan Pacheco hit a ground ball to the third baseman which was thrown into the dirt at first and allowed the third run of the frame to score. Pacheco came around to score when Ryan Barba's single to right field was misplayed by the right fielder. The Lobos added another four runs in the fifth inning with help from a three-run home run by Chris Carlson to left field. The shot was the 20th of the season for Carlson. Scoring on the bases-clearing hit was Hollick and Matt Foote, who had reached on back-to-back singles. Hollick came around to score on a fielder's choice ground out by Jay Russell for the fourth run of the inning. In the sixth inning, New Mexico picked up its ninth run of the game on a single into the hole at short. On the single by Hollick, UNLV's third baseman Willie Bowman and shortstop Mike Cruz collided and allowed the ball to trickle past them. Carlson scored from second after reaching on a two-out double.
The Lobos added six runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth for the final 17-2 margin. The six-run eighth was highlighted by Carlson's second home run of the game, with this one coming as a grand slam. Matt Foote added a two-run shot two batters later. Carlson went 5-for-6 at the plate and collected seven of the Lobos' 13 RBI. Foote went 4-for-6 with three RBI. Danny Ray Herrera (10-0) picked up the win, while throwing 7.0 innings. Herrera allowed one run on five hits, while walking one and striking out seven. The Rebels used five hurlers in the contest. Matt Luca (3-5) suffered the defeat as he threw 4.1 innings in the start. Luca was touched for eight runs (four earned) on six hits. The remainder of the Rebel staff allowed nine runs on 13 hits.
Game 3 Notes: • The Lobos snapped an eight-game losing streak vs. the Rebels with tonight's win. The Rebels averaged over 13 runs per game in those eight wins, but were held to two runs tonight. UNM averaged 10.6 runs per contest in the previous eight games vs. UNLV. • The No. 5 seed now holds a 3-1 advantage over the No. 4 seed in MWC Tournament play. In opening round games, the fifth-seed is now 5-2, while the fourth-seed is 1-6. Overall, the No. 5 seed is 7-12 in the MWC Championship, while the fourth-seed falls to 4-13 all-time. • MWC Co-Pitcher of the Year Danny Ray Herrera moved his record to 10-0 on the season with his victory over the Rebels tonight. In his 8.0 innings of work, Herrera gave up one earned run and struck out seven batters, while scattering five hits and walking only one. • The last time UNLV gave up 17 runs in a game was April 16, 2004, when they defeated Utah, 19-17. • New Mexico scored at least 17 runs in a game for the sixth time this season. • UNLV had four errors vs. New Mexico, all of which came in the second inning, setting a new MWC Tournament record for errors in an inning. • The Rebels' 17-2 loss to the Lobos marks the largest margin of defeat in MWC Championship history for UNLV. The previous largest margin of defeat for UNLV was five runs in a 7-2 loss to BYU in last year's tournament. • New Mexico's Chris Carlson batted .300 vs. UNLV in his previous three games vs. UNLV this season and went 5-for-6 tonight, setting a new career-high for hits in a game and falling a triple short of hitting for the cycle. He hit a grand slam and a three-run homer, while tallying seven RBI and three runs scored. Carlson's seven RBI ties the MWC Tournament record for RBI in a single game. Carlson now has four multi-homer games this season (six for his career). • Matt Foote went 4-for-6 vs. the Rebels, tying his career-high for hits in a game, which was set earlier this season. • Ryan Kowalski led the UNLV offense going 3-for-4 with two runs scored. |
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