Rebels Even Series

LAS VEGAS -- Defense and pitching dominated Friday's baseball game as UNLV defeated BYU, 2-1.

Freshman Jeff Stearman threw a five-hitter on 112 pitches and struck out 11 Rebels to keep BYU in the game through seven-plus innings. Stearman dueled All-Mountain West Conference junior Ryan Olson, who improved his record to 2-1 in going the distance.

David Trujillo hit a solo homer to right center in the eighth, giving the Rebels a 2-1 advantage in the 75-degree weather.

Seth King got a lead-off double in the second inning, but BYU came up empty after having men at the corners in the first and second innings. Consecutive double plays in the second and third innings snuffed out the Cougars, who had placed their first two batters on base in the first, second and third innings.

"We had ample opportunities and just squandered them," said BYU Coach Vance Law. "A pitcher like Olson just gets stronger if we don't get him early. Jeff (Stearman) threw his good 3-1 slider all night."

With two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth, Stearman struck out Rebel slugger Trent Kitsch on three consecutive pitches. In the fifth Stearman recorded his seventh strikeout with two men on to end the inning.

Trujillo scored off Ryan Ruiz's infield single to break the shutout in the bottom of the sixth. Stearman recorded his 10th strikeout as he fanned three Rebels in the sixth.

In the seventh, BYU's Tyler Perry scored from first base with two out as Cameron Coughlan dropped a single in right center to tie the score at one-all.

Kainoa Obrey extended his hitting streak to 11 games as BYU's record fell to 15-14 and 6-5. UNLV is 13-18 and 5-6.

The final game of the series at Las Vegas between the two teams is at 3 p.m MST on Saturday. That game will be broadcast live locally between sessions of LDS Church General Conference on KSRR (1400 AM) or live on the Internet at unlvrebels.fansonly.com/sports/m basebl/unlv-m-basebl-sched.html.

Brigham Young at UNLV
               Mar 30, 2001 at Las Vegas, NV (E. Wilson Stadium)
Brigham Young 1 (15-14,6-5 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
COUGHLAN, Cameron dh.....  4  0  2  1   0  0  0  0   0
JACKSON, Doug cf.........  4  0  2  0   0  1  0  0   1
CARSON, Matt rf..........  4  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
OBREY, Kainoa 3b.........  4  0  1  0   0  1  0  2   1
WIRRICK, Michael lf......  3  0  1  0   0  0  1  0   2
KING, Seth ss............  3  0  1  0   0  0  1  0   1
HAGUEWOOD, Ty 1b.........  3  0  1  0   1  1  8  0   0
DAVIES, Michael c........  4  0  0  0   0  0 12  2   1
PERRY, Tyler 2b..........  3  1  1  0   0  1  1  4   1
STEARMAN, Jeff p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 SU'A, Justin p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 32  1  9  1   1  4 24  8   7
UNLV 2 (14-18,5-6 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
SHITANISHI 2b............  4  0  0  0   0  1  4  4   0
JOHNSON cf/rf............  3  0  0  0   1  2  3  0   2
JACOBITZ lf..............  3  0  0  0   1  2  0  0   0
TRUJILLO 1b..............  4  2  2  1   0  0 10  0   0
REUSS rf.................  3  0  1  0   1  2  1  0   0
 CRUZ pr/cf..............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
KITSCH dh................  4  0  1  0   0  1  0  0   3
RUIZ ss..................  4  0  1  1   0  1  4  3   1
BEASLEY c................  3  0  1  0   0  2  4  2   2
STRONG 3b................  2  0  0  0   0  1  0  3   0
OLSON p..................  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0
Totals................... 30  2  6  2   3 12 27 14   8
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Brigham Young....... 000 000 100 -  1  9  1
UNLV................ 000 001 01X -  2  6  1
-------------------------------------------
E - KING; RUIZ. DP - Rebels 3. LOB - Cougars 7; Rebels 8. 2B - COUGHLAN;
KING. HR - TRUJILLO. HBP - WIRRICK; STRONG. SH - KING. SB - WIRRICK. CS -
HAGUEWOOD; JOHNSON.
Brigham Young          IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
STEARMAN, Jeff......  7.1  5  2  2  3 11 27 31
SU'A, Justin........  0.2  1  0  0  0  1  3  3
UNLV                   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
OLSON...............  9.0  9  1  1  1  4 32 35
Win - OLSON (2-1).  Loss - STEARMAN (1-4).  Save - None.
HB - STEARMAN; OLSON. BK - SU'A.
Umpires - Home:Dan Pedersen  1st:John DeLuca  3rd:Joe Burleson
Start: 7:04 pm   Time: 2:13   Attendance: 465