LAS -- Robbie Van struck out 13 Friday night to lead No. 20 UNLV over BYU, 5-4.

The Cougars were unable to figure out Van's curve ball, striking out 13 times. And when they did hit the ball, the Rebel defense was there to back him up. Van ended the game allowing six hits and four runs in 7.2 innings pitched.

"We've been able to hit Van in the past, but tonight he had his breaking ball working, getting us to chase balls out of the strike zone," BYU Head Coach Vance Law said.

It is the 12th time the Cougars have been involved in a one-run game, and the loss drops that record to 2-10. BYU's overall record goes to 19-19, 11-9 in Mountain West Conference. UNLV improves to 34-12, 17-3.

Doug Jackson led the game off with a first-inning home run to put BYU up 1-0.

Fernando Valenzuela doubled in the second inning and scored on Eddie Gill's sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1.

In the fourth, Paul Jacinto found himself in trouble after walking a hitter, allowing another to reach on a fielder's choice and giving up a single to load the bases with no outs. Gill followed a sacrifice fly to single in the Rebels' third run of the game. Jacinto got Eric Nielsen to ground out to end the inning down, 3-1.

Gill hit a two-run home run in the sixth for his third and fourth RBI of the game, giving the Rebels a 5-1 lead.

Casey Cloward started off the Cougar rally in the eighth with his second double. He currently is working on a 10 game hitting streak. Cloward later scored on Rob Itri's single and Ranger Wiens hit a rocket to left field that hit the top of the fence to signal the end of Van. Ryan Braun came in relief of Van with runners in scoring position on second and third.

Kainoa Obrey kept the eighth-inning rally alive against Braun when he hit a deep fly ball to the centerfielder who got leather on the ball but was not able to hold on to it. Itri and Wiens scored to put BYU down by one run, 5-4.

Tim Law singed and stole second base to set BYU up for the tying run. But, Braun recorded his sixth save of the season by striking out two in the ninth and getting Itri to line out to the shortstop for the final out of the game.

"I thought our pinch hitters performed well tonight," Law said. "It's the toughest job in the game having to come in the game off the bench and perform immediately."

Jacinto kept the Cougars within striking distance, throwing eight innings, giving up eight hits and striking out four.

BYU will face UNLV in the final game of the series at 3 p.m., MST.

BYU at UNLV
Apr 25, 2003 at Las Vegas, NV (E. Wilson Stadium)
BYU 4 (19-19,11-9 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JACKSON, Doug lf.........  3  1  1  1   1  0  2  0   1
CHAMBERS, Ryan rf........  3  0  0  0   0  1  1  0   0
 BILLS, Kevin ph.........  1  0  0  0   0  1  2  0   0
WIENS, Ranger ss.........  4  1  1  0   0  3  1  1   1
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  4  0  1  2   0  3  0  3   0
STUBBLEFIELD, Jake 1b....  4  0  1  0   0  1  8  0   1
JACOBSEN, Brock cf.......  4  0  0  0   0  3  4  1   0
LUCAS, Blair dh..........  3  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 CARSON, Clayton ph......  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
CLOWARD, Casey c.........  3  1  2  0   0  1  4  0   1
 LAW, Tim ph.............  1  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
VEST, Wade 2b............  2  0  0  0   0  1  2  2   0
 ITRI, Rob ph............  2  1  1  1   0  0  0  0   1
JACINTO, Paul p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 35  4  8  4   1 15 24  8   5
UNLV 5 (34-12,17-3 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
SHITANISHI 2b............  4  0  1  0   0  0  0  2   0
WICKMAN, Joe lf..........  3  1  1  0   1  1  1  0   0
 D'ANGELO lf.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
DOBSON cf................  4  1  0  0   0  1  0  0   2
VALENZUELA 1b............  3  1  2  0   1  0  7  0   0
JOHNSON 3b...............  3  1  1  0   0  0  0  1   0
GILL dh..................  2  1  1  4   0  0  0  0   0
NIELSEN rf...............  4  0  1  1   0  0  3  0   1
VAN KIRK c...............  3  0  0  0   0  1 14  1   2
WHITE ss.................  3  0  1  0   0  1  1  2   0
VAN p....................  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  1   0
 BRAUN p.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 29  5  8  5   2  4 27  7   5
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
BYU................. 100 000 030 -  4  8  1
UNLV................ 010 202 00X -  5  8  0
-------------------------------------------
E - JACINTO. DP - Cougars 1. LOB - Cougars 5; UNLV 5. 2B - WIENS; OBREY;
CLOWARD 2; VALENZUELA; WHITE. 3B - JOHNSON. HR - JACKSON; GILL. SH -
JOHNSON. SF - GILL 2. SB - STUBBLEFIELD; SHITANISHI.
BYU                    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
JACINTO, Paul.......  8.0  8  5  3  2  4 29 34
UNLV                   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
VAN.................  7.2  6  4  4  1 13 29 30
BRAUN...............  1.1  2  0  0  0  2  6  6
Win - VAN (5-4).  Loss - JACINTO (6-5).  Save - BRAUN (6).
WP - VAN; BRAUN.
Umpires - HP: Tom Hiler  1B: John Cortez  3B: Bill Speck
Start: 6:33 pm   Time: 2:28   Attendance: 602
BYU at UNLV - Play-by-Play
Apr 25, 2003 at Las Vegas, NV (E. Wilson Stadium)
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
BYU................. 100 000 030 -  4  8  1
UNLV................ 010 202 00X -  5  8  0
-------------------------------------------
BYU starters: 13/lf JACKSON; 22/rf CHAMBERS; 8/ss WIENS; 32/3b OBREY; 33/1b
   STUBBLEFIELD; 3/cf JACOBSEN; 6/dh LUCAS; 9/c CLOWARD; 5/2b VEST; 15/p
   JACINTO;
UNLV starters: 10/2b SHITANISHI; 12/lf WICKMAN, Joe; 5/cf DOBSON; 33/1b
   VALENZUELA; 45/3b JOHNSON; 46/dh GILL; 36/rf NIELSEN; 16/c VAN KIRK; 7/ss
   WHITE; 22/p VAN;
BYU - inning 1
   JACKSON homered to left field, RBI. CHAMBERS grounded out to p. WIENS
   struck out swinging. OBREY struck out swinging. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0
   LOB.
UNLV - inning 1
   SHITANISHI flied out to cf. WICKMAN, Joe grounded out to 2b. DOBSON
   grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU - inning 2
   STUBBLEFIELD singled to left field. STUBBLEFIELD stole second. JACOBSEN
   struck out swinging. LUCAS out at first ss to p. CLOWARD struck out
   swinging. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
UNLV - inning 2
   VALENZUELA doubled to center field. JOHNSON grounded out to 2b, SAC,
   bunt; VALENZUELA advanced to third. GILL flied out to lf, SF, RBI;
   VALENZUELA scored. NIELSEN grounded out to ss. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0
   LOB.
BYU - inning 3
   VEST grounded out to 2b. JACKSON walked. JACKSON advanced to second on a
   wild pitch. CHAMBERS grounded out to 2b; JACKSON advanced to third. WIENS
   struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
UNLV - inning 3
   VAN KIRK grounded out to p. WHITE doubled to center field. SHITANISHI
   lined into double play cf to ss; WHITE out on the play. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0
   errors, 0 LOB.
BYU - inning 4
   OBREY struck out looking. STUBBLEFIELD struck out swinging. JACOBSEN
   struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
UNLV - inning 4
   WICKMAN, Joe walked. DOBSON reached on a fielder's choice; WICKMAN, Joe
   advanced to second on an error by p. VALENZUELA singled to left field;
   DOBSON advanced to second; WICKMAN, Joe advanced to third. JOHNSON popped
   up to 2b. GILL flied out to rf, SF, RBI; WICKMAN, Joe scored, unearned.
   NIELSEN singled to third base, RBI; VALENZUELA advanced to third; DOBSON
   scored, unearned. VAN KIRK struck out swinging. 2 runs, 2 hits, 1 error,
   2 LOB.
BYU - inning 5
   LUCAS flied out to rf. CLOWARD doubled through the left side. VEST struck
   out swinging. JACKSON grounded out to 1b unassisted. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0
   errors, 1 LOB.
UNLV - inning 5
   WHITE grounded out to 3b. SHITANISHI singled to second base. WICKMAN, Joe
   struck out swinging; SHITANISHI stole second. DOBSON popped up to 2b. 0
   runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU - inning 6
   CHAMBERS struck out swinging. WIENS struck out swinging. OBREY struck out
   swinging, out at first c to 1b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
UNLV - inning 6
   VALENZUELA grounded out to 3b. JOHNSON tripled to center field. GILL
   homered to center field, 2 RBI; JOHNSON scored. NIELSEN flied out to lf.
   VAN KIRK flied out to cf. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU - inning 7
   STUBBLEFIELD grounded out to ss. JACOBSEN grounded out to 3b. LUCAS lined
   out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
UNLV - inning 7
   WHITE struck out looking. SHITANISHI flied out to cf. WICKMAN, Joe
   singled through the right side. DOBSON struck out swinging. 0 runs, 1
   hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU - inning 8
   CLOWARD doubled to right field. ITRI pinch hit for VEST. ITRI singled to
   center field, RBI; CLOWARD scored. JACKSON flied out to rf. BILLS pinch
   hit for CHAMBERS. BILLS struck out swinging. WIENS doubled to center
   field; ITRI advanced to third. BRAUN to p for VAN. OBREY doubled to
   center field, 2 RBI; WIENS scored; ITRI scored. STUBBLEFIELD flied out to
   lf. 3 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
UNLV - inning 8
   BILLS to rf. ITRI to 2b. VALENZUELA walked. JOHNSON flied out to rf. GILL
   grounded out to 1b unassisted; VALENZUELA advanced to second. NIELSEN
   flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU - inning 9
   D'ANGELO to lf for WICKMAN, Joe. JACOBSEN struck out looking. CARSON
   pinch hit for LUCAS. CARSON struck out looking. LAW pinch hit for
   CLOWARD. LAW singled to right field. LAW advanced to second on a wild
   pitch. ITRI lined out to ss. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

Poised for a run at the title, BYU's baseball team meets league front runner UNLV in a three-game series at Las Vegas this week.

The Cougars, now 19-17 and 11-7 in the Mountain West Conference, travel to face No. 20 UNLV, 32-11 and 15-3. Should the Cougars pull off a three game sweep at UNLV, it would still leave them a game behind the Rebels.

The Cougars swept the Rebels in three games last year at Las Vegas to begin conference play. UNLV has a five-game winning streak since losing once at Utah earlier this month.

Final exams began last Friday at BYU, which has affected practices. With BYU's graduation and convocation on Thursday and Friday, BYU pitcher Jason Garcia will matriculate in sociology and consequently will miss the Cougars' series in Las Vegas.

The probable pitching rotation remains the same as in recent weeks for the Cougars. Juniors Jeff Mousser (4-4, 4.96) and Paul Jacinto (6-4, 4.22) get the assignment on the mound for Thursday and Friday's games, respectively. Those contests begin at 6:30 p.m., PDT. On Saturday, freshman southpaw Ken Gravley (3-1, 4.62) will take the hill at 2 p.m., PDT.

When the two teams last met in Provo a month ago, UNLV won the first and last games of the series. The opening game was a 6-5 decision, now one of the 11 one-run contests for the Cougars who have claimed two victories in those close tilts. Only Jacinto was victorious against the Rebels as he remains undefeated in league games at 6-0.

This is BYU's next-to-last road trip of the regular season, as the Cougars will host eight games in a row, then travel to Air Force before the MWC Tournament at Albuquerque, N.M. The BYU-UNLV games will be broadcast live locally over KOVO Radio 960 AM, the later two of which will also be audiocast. All of the UNLV games will be on the Internet audiocast through its station.