UNLV looked stuck for six innings Friday night. Then the Rebels turned the game into a late-inning avalanche.
The Hustlin’ Rebels scored five runs in the seventh and four more in the eighth to beat Fresno State 11-6 at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium. UNLV improved to 27-22 overall and 8-11 in Mountain West play, while Fresno State fell to 13-33-1 and 2-16-1.
Late innings flipped it
UNLV led 2-0 after Nin Burns II homered in the second and Marcos Rosales doubled home Gunnar Myro in the third. Parker Dillhoff kept Fresno State quiet early, but the Bulldogs climbed back.
Fresno State scored once in the fifth, then took a 4-2 lead in the sixth when Sky Collins hit a three-run homer. That could have turned into a long night for UNLV, but the Rebels answered fast.
With two outs in the seventh, Myro singled and Rosales followed with another hit. Jonny Rodriguez singled home Myro to make it 4-3. Drew Barragan then doubled down the left-field line, scoring Rosales and Rodriguez, and came home on a throwing error to put UNLV up 6-4.
Burns followed with his second homer of the night, and the Rebels had a 7-4 lead.
J-Rod lands the big one
UNLV broke it open in the eighth. Reggie Bussey walked, stole second and moved to third on Myro’s single. Rosales was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Rodriguez took care of the rest. He launched a grand slam to make it 11-4 and finished 2-for-5 with five RBI. It was his eighth home run of the season and the swing that gave UNLV full control.
Burns also had a monster night, going 2-for-3 with two solo homers, two hit-by-pitches, two stolen bases and two runs scored.
Dillhoff hangs around long enough
Dillhoff did enough to get the win, even after Fresno State grabbed momentum in the sixth. He went six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits with one walk and nine strikeouts.
It was another high-strikeout start for Dillhoff, who improved to 4-3. Jase Evangelista handled the final three innings for his third save, giving up two runs on two hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
Fresno State made noise in the ninth with two runs, but Evangelista kept the lead safe.
More traffic from Myro
Myro stayed hot at the bottom of the order. He went 3-for-5 and scored three runs, extending his hitting streak to 11 games.
Rosales went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs. Barragan went 1-for-5 with the key two-run double and extended his on-base streak to 48 games dating back to last season at Western Kentucky.
Up next
UNLV and Fresno State continue the Mountain West series Saturday at 3:05 p.m. in Fresno. The series finale is Sunday at 12:05 p.m.
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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.
