UNLV rolls Washington State 12-3 as Lane strikes out eight

Jonny Rodriguez breaks from the box during UNLV’s 11-1 win over Utah Tech on March 21 at Earl E. Wilson Stadium in Las Vegas. The Rebels improved to 15-8 behind Parker Dillhoff’s win and a 13-hit attack. Image by Mark Hebert — Dice City Sports

UNLV flipped the series Saturday night, and this time the script looked a lot better for the home dugout.

After getting buried by free passes and shaky pitching in Friday’s opener, the Rebels answered with a 12-3 win over Washington State at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. Carson Lane picked up his first win of the season, struck out eight over six innings, and got plenty of help from an offense that hit three home runs and kept scoring after taking the lead.

Three homers changed the tone

Washington State scored in each of the first two innings and grabbed a 2-0 lead, but UNLV answered with power. Cooper Sheff started the comeback with a solo homer in the second. Gavin Taylor tied it with a solo shot in the third, and Marcos Rosales followed later in the inning with another solo blast to right. Just like that, the Rebels had turned a flat start into a 3-2 lead.

That mattered because UNLV never gave the game back. Friday felt like a night where every mistake got punished. Saturday felt like the opposite. The Rebels took the first real opening and kept leaning on it.

Lane settled the game down

The bigger difference was on the mound. Lane gave up single runs in the first and second, then locked in. He finished six innings, allowed five hits and two earned runs, walked three, and struck out eight while throwing 114 pitches. For a staff that had just been tagged for 12 earned runs in the opener, that outing changed the feel of the whole series.

Washington State still put runners on, but Lane kept it from turning into chaos. He stranded traffic in the third and fourth, then worked a clean fifth and escaped the sixth with another strikeout. That gave UNLV room to keep building the lead instead of playing from behind.

Middle innings broke it open

UNLV did its real damage from the fourth through the eighth. Gunnar Myro doubled home Taylor in the fourth to make it 4-2. In the sixth, Myro added an RBI groundout, then Rosales ripped a two-run double to left as the lead grew to 7-2.

The seventh brought three more runs, helped by a Washington State error, a passed ball and a Reggie Bussey RBI single. Two more came in the eighth on a Jack Salmon walk with the bases loaded and Taylor’s sacrifice fly. By the end, the Rebels had scored in six different innings and finished with 14 hits.

Plenty of bats joined in

Sheff went 3-for-4 and finished a triple short of the cycle. Rosales drove in three. Taylor scored three times and knocked in two. Myro had two RBI, and Bussey added another while reaching twice.

That was the point of the night for UNLV. It was not one hot bat carrying the lineup. The Rebels kept passing the pressure from one hitter to the next, and Washington State never really got a breather.

The bullpen finished it cleanly

Colton Sundloff and Ryan Marton made sure the night stayed quiet late. Sundloff covered the seventh and eighth, allowed one run, and struck out two. Marton worked the ninth and gave up only a hit batter before closing it out.

After Friday’s messy pitching line, Saturday looked a lot cleaner: three pitchers, three earned runs, and 11 strikeouts. That was the real flip. The Rebels did not just hit better. They controlled the game better.

Mountain West picture

The win moved UNLV to 6-8 in Mountain West play and kept the Rebels from slipping deeper into the bottom half of the standings. Washington State dropped to 8-6, so the series finale now gives UNLV a chance to take a game back from a team sitting above it in the league race.

Up next

UNLV and Washington State meet in the rubber match Sunday at 12:05 p.m. PT at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.

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UNLV drops opener 13-2 as free bases sink Rebels vs Washington State

UNLV beats Utah Tech 8-6 to finish road trip 4-1

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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.