UNLV had the lead, lost it, took it back and then held on when the whole thing started to wobble again.
The Rebels beat first-place Nevada 8-7 on Saturday at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park, evening the weekend series and moving to 24-18 overall and 7-10 in Mountain West play. UNLV hit three home runs, got a five-RBI day from Jonny Rodriguez, and survived a ninth-inning scare after Nevada brought the tying run to third.
Rodriguez delivered the first punch
UNLV did not ease into this one.
After Marcos Rosales walked, Ayden Garcia singled and Nin Burns II drew another walk, Rodriguez unloaded a grand slam to left to give the Rebels a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Nevada answered with two runs in the bottom half, then took the lead with a four-run fourth.
That could have flipped the whole day. Instead, UNLV answered right back.
Rebels took it back
Rosales opened the fifth with a solo homer down the left-field line to cut Nevada’s lead to 6-5. Garcia followed later with a double, Burns brought him home with an RBI double, and Rodriguez singled to right-center to score Burns and put UNLV back ahead 7-6.
Gavin Taylor added what became a huge insurance run in the sixth with a solo homer to left. That gave the Rebels an 8-6 lead and their third home run of the game.
Bland steadied the game
Yates Bland entered in the fifth and gave UNLV the exact bridge it needed. He worked 4.1 innings, allowed one run, struck out five and improved to 5-0.
Nevada had traffic against him, including two runners in scoring position in the sixth, but Bland kept the Wolf Pack off the board until the ninth. That mattered because Nevada finished with 14 hits and never really went away.
Bussey’s catch mattered late
Reggie Bussey did not have a loud night at the plate, but his glove helped save the game.
With the tying run at third in the ninth, Ryan Marton came on and got Jake Harvey to fly out to center. Bussey made the catch to end it, closing a tense finish and giving Marton his second save of the season.
Standing watch
The win pushed UNLV to 7-10 in Mountain West play. Nevada still leads the league at 11-6, while Air Force sits just behind at 11-6 by win total and percentage. UNLV remains in the lower half of the standings, but Saturday’s win kept the Rebels from falling further back and gave them a chance to steal the series from the conference leader.
Up next
UNLV wraps the rivalry series at Nevada on Sunday at 12:05 p.m. PT in Reno. The Rebels then head to St. George for a Tuesday road game against Utah Tech.
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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.
