San Diego St. 18 – UNLV 19
TCU 11- BYU 7
Utah 3 – New Mexico 13
Utah Valley St. 17 – Air Force 6
Saturday Slugfest
LAS VEGAS – Xavier Scruggs hit a trio of home runs, the final one a two-run shot that tied it in the bottom of the ninth, and UNLV baseball went on to stun San Diego State, 19-18, on a wild Saturday at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.
Following Scruggs’ two-run shot that tied things at 16, Rebel sophomore Jarred Frierson hit a two-run home run to right that tied it, and then J.J. Sferra hit a game-winning single. With winds blowing out constantly at 20-30 M.P.H., the 503 fans in attendance saw the two teams combine for 37 runs on 48 hits, including nine home runs.
“It felt like I got all three pretty good today,” Scruggs said. “In the ninth I was just hoping that everyone in front of me would do their job and give me a chance to come up to the plate.”
UNLV improved to 17-20 on the year and 6-8 in Mountain West Conference games, while SDSU dropped to 23-16 and 10-4 in league games. Despite giving up six runs, Rebel reliever Adam Moser earned the win, moving to 5-4 on the year while Jon Berger (2-5) took the loss, as he gave up the three runs in the bottom for the Aztecs.
Scruggs finished the game with a career-high eight RBI on the trip of round trippers, as he hit three runs shots in the first and eighth innings. It was part of a six-home run attack for UNLV, which also got dingers from Michael Brenly, Rance Roundy and Frierson. The three home runs marks the second time this season that Scruggs has hit that many in “Our team showed a lot of character in coming back the way they did,” UNLV head coach Buddy Gouldsmith said. “Scruggs is someone who has been so good for so long this year, and he has such great plate discipline and pitch recognition.”
UNLV needed every bit of offense it could get though, as the San Diego State had lead of 8-4, 12-6 and then 16-10 heading into the bottom of the ninth after scoring four runs in the top half.
But the Rebels would not go quietly, as they knotted the game by scoring six unearned runs to send the game into extra innings. The 19 runs were the second most that UNLV has scored in a game and the 23 hits is a season high.
Roundy and Frierson each had four hits on the day, while Scruggs and Jesse Wight each collected three for the Rebels. Nick Romero lead the Aztecs with three hits, including a home run, and four RBI.
Frogs complete sweep with 11-7 victory
PROVO, Utah – The TCU Horned Frogs held off a late charge by the BYU Cougars as they defeated them 11-7 Saturday afternoon to complete their third straight conference sweep. The Horned Frog bats stayed hot as they struck for 11 runs on 18 hits, including 13 combined hits from the first five batters in the lineup. Chris Ellington and Matt Vern each drove in a game-high three runs in the victory. Andrew Cashner tossed two scoreless innings for his fourth save of the season.
The Frog offense picked up where it left off on Friday as they grabbed the early lead in the first inning. Bryan Kervin singled with one out and moved all the way to third on a misplayed ball in right field. Clint Arnold followed with an RBI single. After stealing second, Arnold raced home on a Steve Ellington base hit to right field for a 2-0 lead.
BYU fought back, tying the game in the bottom of the second inning. TCU starter Greg Holle struggled with his control after getting the first out of the inning. Kasey Ko doubled to start the rally and two straight walks loaded the bases. Chad Nacapoy cut the Frog lead in half with a sacrifice fly and Brandon Relf tied the game with a base hit.
The Cougars looked to have a chance to take the lead in the fourth inning as they had two runners on with two outs, but relief pitcher Trent Appleby came on and got Sean McNaughton to pop out to end the inning.
Holle tossed 3 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits. He walked four and struck out one in the no-decision. Appleby (2-1) earned the win in relief. He allowed just one unearned run in 1 1/3 innings of work.
The Horned Frog bats woke up in the top of the fifth. Carruthers broke the 2-2 tie with a line drive solo home run over the left center field fence to lead off the inning. Kervin followed with a single and moved to third on an Arnold double. Chris Ellington grounded out to drive in the second run of the frame. After swiping third, Arnold made it a three-run game, 5-2, scoring on Steve Ellington’s second hit of the game.
BYU scored an unearned run in the bottom of the inning to make it a two-run contest, but the Frogs again had an answer as they picked up two more in the top of the sixth. Carruthers started things off with a one-out infield single. With two outs, Arnold singled and both runners moved up 90 feet on a Jared Miller wild pitch. Chris Ellington singled straight up the middle to make it a 7-3 contest.
Again, the Cougars would strike for a two out run in the bottom of the inning only to turn around and give it right back in the top of the next inning. Matt Carpenter doubled to lead off the inning and scored on a Hunt Woodruff single to right.
The Cougars made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh, picking up three runs on three hits and an error. Eric Marshall issued a one-out walk to Steve Parker followed by a base hit to Ko. Jonathan Cluff doubled to drive in the first run of the inning. Bryce Ayoso singled home Ko and Cluff made it a one-run game as he scored on an errant pick-off attempt.
With a runner on third and only one out, Paul Gerrish got pinch-hitter J.C. Leach to bounce out and then struck out Relf to end the inning, stranding the tying run at third.
In the eighth inning, the Cougars again saw their chance at knotting the game at eight go by the wayside. McNaughton singled to open the inning, but Cashner retired the next three batters he faced, stranding McNaughton at third.
Vern gave the Frogs some breathing room in the ninth inning with his second home run of the weekend. Carpenter walked to lead-off the frame and Woodruff reached on a one-out error. Vern drove the pitch over the wall in straight away center for a three-run homer to make it an 11-7 game. Cashner worked around a lead-off walk to complete the sweep.
Lobos Power Past Utes, 13-3
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– Five Lobo batters had multi-hit games and Jacob Norton threw his longest outing of the season to give the University of New Mexico (26-14, 10-4 in MWC) a 13-3 victory over Utah (13-19, 3-7 MWC).
Each team put up a tally in the first and second innings to knot the score at two. Mike Brownstein led off the first for the Lobos with a triple and crossed home one batter later with an Ian Hollick groundout to short. The Lobos tied the score at two in the second when Kevin Atkinson, who singled to left to start the inning, scored via an Adam Courcha RBI single to left. Utah tacked another run on the scoreboard in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead.
The Lobo bats really came to life beginning in the bottom of the fifth. Courcha, who started in center and reached base in all four of his at-bats, led off with a walk and advanced to second on a Scott Gracey sacrifice bunt. Mike Brownstein followed with a walk to give the Lobos runners on first and second for Hollick, who stroked a double into left center to score Courcha. Matt Hibbitts gave the Lobos the lead, 5-4, with a sacrifice fly to bring home Brownstein one batter later.
The Lobos added two more in the sixth courtesy a run-scoring triple from Courcha and an RBI single from Brownstein padding the lead 6-3. The scoring wouldn’t stop there, however, as UNM batted around and plated four in the seventh. Neda singled to score Hollick and Brian Cavazos-Galvez, who both singled earlier in the inning. Pinch hitter Bret Fanning and Gracey followed with RBI singles of their own making the score 10-3.
Baseball Rolls Past Air Force, 17-6
GREELEY, Colorado – Utah Valley belted out season highs of 17 runs on 21 hits in a 17-6 rout of Air Force on Saturday in Greeley, Colorado. The Wolverines will face Northern Colorado later on the afternoon at 2:15pm MT.
The Wolverines (8-25-1), who ended a five-game losing streak with the win, scored in eight of nine innings and evened their season series with the Falcons (12-24) at one win apiece.
Ryan Jones and Adam Openshaw both had four hits each for UV while Scott Croshaw was 3-for-5 with five runs batted in. Openshaw and Jace Brinkerhoff drove in three runs apiece while Jones and Jake Rickenbach, who had three hits as well, both had two RBI.
Croshaw hit his second home run of the year on a three-run blast to left-center in the eighth. Utah Valley had nine extra base hits in the game, including triples by Openshaw and Rickenbach.
Andy Jangard (1-3) earned his first win of the year as he went six innings and allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out six. Kyle Kasper finished the game on the mound and earned a three-inning save, the first save for any Wolverine pitcher this year.
Utah Valley used a four-run first to jump out to an early lead and kept the pressure on the Air Force all afternoon.
