Rebel Baseball Wins Three of Four, Including a Walk-off Win Against ASU

Rebel Baseball is staying hot moving into late March as they win three out of their four games this past weekend and their mid-week game. Their weekend series was in San Jose playing the Spartans of San Jose State. Then they were back at home on Tuesday against Arizona State.

Game 1 (Friday, March 25th) - @ San Jose State

This first game of the series was a battle from the start. The Spartans struck first with one run in the bottom of the 1st after a ground-ball scored the runner from third. In the next half inning, CF Rylan Charles came up with two outs and the bases loaded. He hit a bases clearing double to put the Rebels up 3-1. Unfortunately, the inning ended when he tried to stretch his double into a triple. In the bottom of the 2nd, the Spartans scored four more runs. In the top of the 3rd, UNLV took the lead again. After a 1B Hank Zeisler single that scored LF Austin Kryzszcuk and moved 3B Deigo Alarcon over to second. Next to bat was RF Joey Walls who hit a three-run bomb to put the score at 7-5 now. An electric first three innings. San Jose scored an unearned run after a walk and a wild pitch in the 4th. The 5th is when the flood gates open for the Rebels. A few doubles, a few singles, a sac fly, and even a balk scored seven runs in one inning. Rebels led 14-6. They didn’t score a run for the rest of the game, but a strong relief staff and defense kept the Spartans to only five runs. The ball game ended with the score 14-11, a Rebels win.

Game Stats -

Pitching

• SP Josh Ibarra - 4.0 IP, 4 K, 3 BB, 7 H, 5 ER (1 unearned)
• RP Nick Rupp - 3.0 IP, 4 K, 2 BB, 4 H, 3 ER (1 unearned), Win (3-0)
• RP Hayden Neirmann - 2.0 IP, 2 K, 3 H, 1 unearned R, Save

Hitting

• CF Rylan Charles - 2-5, 2 2B, BB, 4 RBI, R
• LF Austin Kryzszcuk - 1-3, 2B, 3 BB, RBI, 2 R
• 3B Diego Alarcon - 1-4, 2 BB, RBI, 2 R
• 1B Hank Zeisler - 4-5, BB, 2 RBI, 2 R
• RF Joey Walls - 2-5, HR, 2B, BB, HBP, 4 RBI, 2 R

Game 2 (Saturday, March 26th) @ San Jose State -

Game 2 of the series had a little different start than the first game. This time the Rebels scored first with a Kryzszcuk double that scored Charles in the top of the 1st. A Spartan 2-run home run in the second half of that inning gave them the lead. An Alarcon single scored one run in the 2nd to tie the game at 2-2. The Spartans had a three-run 4th inning including another two-run homer. 2B Edarian Williams hit a solo shot in the 5th to bring the game within two runs. The Spartans then score a run in each of the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings. The Rebels were down five going into the 9th. Williams came up to bat with a runner on and one out. He hit his second bomb of the game that brought the game back within three runs. However, a ground-out and a fly-out ended the game, 8-5, Rebels loss. This was their first in conference loss all year.

Game Stats -

Pitching

• SP Troy Balko - 3.0 IP, 3 K, BB, 7 H, 5 ER, Loss (0-2)
• RP Joey Acosta - 1.0 IP, K, BB
• RP Jimmy Gamboa - 3.0 IP, 3 K, 3 H, 2 ER
• RP Ty Pohlmann - 1.0 IP, 2 H, ER

Hitting

• RF Rylan Charles - 1-3, SH, HBP, R
• LF Austin Kryzszcuk - 2-3, 2 2B, 2 BB, RBI
• 3B Diego Alarcon - 1-4, BB, RBI
• 2B Edarian Williams - 2-4, 2 HR, BB, 3 RBI, 2 R

Game 3 (Sunday, March 27th) @ San Jose State -

After coming off the loss, the Rebels came out ready for the Sunday midday game. This game is going to decide the winner of the series. Alarcon scored the first run in the top of the 1st with a sac-fly to center. In the bottom of that inning, the Spartans hit a two-run homer to go up 2-1 after one inning. In the top of the 2nd, a ground-ball by C Eric Bigani scored a run to tie the game. In the 3rd, Zeisler singled to score Kryzszcuk and advance Alarcon to third base. A sac-fly later in that inning scored Alarcon. The score after the first three innings was 4-2, Rebels. The Spartans scored a run in the 4th. Then the 5th inning is when the Rebels kicked it into gear. An Alarcon three-run bomb made the score 7-3. Th Spartans then homered to get one back. A single in the 7th for the Rebels scored two, however, one was unearned due to an error by the Spartan second baseman. Then in the 9th, two more singles brought in three more runs. The game ended with a score of 12-4, Rebels win and the series win for the Rebels.

Game Stats -

Pitching

• SP Noah Mattera - 3.2 IP, 3 K, BB, 6 H, 3 ER
• RP Noah Beal - 5.1 IP, 3 K, 2 BB, 4 H, ER, Win (4-0)

Hitting

• LF Austin Kryzszcuk - 2-4, BB, 3 R, SB
• 3B Diego Alarcon - 2-3, HR, SF, BB, 4 RBI, 3 R,
• 1B Hank Zeisler - 2-3, 2 BB, RBI, R
• RF Joey Walls - 2-4, SF, 2 RBI, 2 R
• SS Braden Murphy - 2-5, 2B, RBI, R
• C Eric Bigani - 2-5, 3 RBI

Game 4 (Tuesday, March 29th) vs Arizona State -

The Rebels started their non-conference game against ASU with a first pitch from their Athletic Director, Erick Harper. However, the Sun Devils scored first with two runs coming in the top of the 1st inning. In the bottom of the 2nd, the Rebels answered back and then some, scoring four runs on a single, a few walks and an error in the field. In the 3rd, the Rebels scored two more runs after a Williams triple scored one then a a sac-fly that scored him. A Sun Devil two-run homer in the 4th got them on them back within two for the game, but not for long. In the bottom half of that inning, Williams came up big again with the bases loaded. He roped a bases clearing double to right center putting the Rebels up, 9-4. The Sun Devils went on to score two runs in the 6th, but gave up a walk scoring another run for the Rebels. A three-run home run in the 7th by ASU, brought the score to 10-9, Rebels. In the top half of the 9th, ASU tied the game. It is tied 10-10 going into the bottom of the 9th. Williams led the inning off the inning and with a full count he was able to hit a triple off the right field wall, inches from going out. The Sun Devils intentionally walked Bigani and Murphy, then made a pitching change. Their new pitcher came in and threw a wild pitch that scored Williams and ended the game in a walk-off. Rebels win 11-10.

Game Stats -

Pitching

• SP Josh Sharman - 5.2 IP, 6 K, BB, 8 H, 2 ER (3 unearned)
• RP Jimmy Gamboa - 0.0 IP, 2 H, Unearned R
• RP Connor Woods - 0.0 IP, 2 BB
• RP Sam Simon - 0.2 IP, BB, H, 2 ER (1 unearned)
• RP Hayden Neirman - 2.2 IP, K, 2 H, ER

Hitting -

• 1B Hank Zeisler - 2-4, BB, 2 R
• RF Joey Walls - 2-3, 2 BB, 2 R
• 2B Edarian Williams - 4-4, 2 3B, 2B, BB, 5 RBI, 3 R
• SS Braden Murphy - 1-3, SF, BB, 2 RBI, R
• C Eric Bigani - 1-4, 2B, BB, R

UNLV continues to heat up going into the month of April. They go to New Mexico for this weekend’s three-game series then will be back at home for the non-conference weekday game against UC Riverside on Tuesday.

This week’s Player of the Week is 2B Edarian Williams because of his performances at the plate. In these four games he was 7-16 at the plate with a double, two triples, two home runs, 9 RBIs, and 7 Runs.