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UNLV Wins First Game in Stunning Fashion
In front of over 5,000 Longhorn fans the Rebels beat Texas in a classic battle that took 12 innings to decide. And decide it was, on the strength of Andrew Yazdanbakhsh's solo home run in the top of the twelfth inning that made Blaze Bohall and the Rebels winners in the first game of the season by the score of 4-3. I'd figured that UNLV's pitching might hold up but I had no idea that they would take out the Longhorns in that venue. Road games are tough enough at any level of baseball so that adds quite an exclamation point to the victory.
In other scores:
Air Force 13 - Buffalo 0
Complete dominance by both pitching and hitting. Griffin Jax started and got the win and the pen kept Buffalo at bay the rest of the game. Plenty of hitting but no home runs but most fans will take 13-0.
Northwestern 4 - Nevada 2 and Northwestern 5 - Nevada 1
The Wolf Pack drop both ends of a doubleheader in Arizona. The first game was mostly a case of the offense taking some time off as only a run in both the eighth and ninth innings kept this one as close as it seemed. The second game also was not close as only Trenton Brooks' first home run of the year put any runs on the board. Oh, he also was the starting and losing pitcher in the game and he deserved better. This was not a good way to start the year.
Oregon 8 - San Diego State 2
Aztec starter Marcus Reyes went seven good innings giving up only two runs but the game was decided by six runs in the top of the ninth as the bullpen couldn't keep the two teams even at 2-2.
UC Irvine 3 - San Jose State 2
Lack of timely hitting doomed the Spartans and one bad inning by the relief corps did not help the Spartans' cause. Solo home runs by Shane Timmons and Ozzy Braff made the final score respectable. Starter Josh Nashed went four innings giving up no runs so the boys in blue can take a lot from that alone.
Fresno State 2 - Creighton 1
Pitching was certainly the story in this one. You'd expect that at the beginning of the year. Pitchers tend to be ahead of hitters early on. Anyway, Ricky Thomas pitched well and got the win for his efforts while striking out 8 in 6 IP and no walks. McCarthy Tatum led the offense with three hits.
New Mexico 6 - Hawaii 4
3600 fans in Honolulu witnessed this game and it was mostly about hitting as Michael Eaton had a home run and two hits, Carl Stajduhar also had two hits, and Jack Zoellner had two to pace the Lobos.