UNLV Takes First Game of Tourney

SAN -- A grand slam homer Wednesday by Keith Smith paced UNLV to a 10-3 victory over BYU in the Mountain West Conference Preseason Tournament opening round.

Smith's homer in the ninth inning accounted for four unearned runs in an inning that started with a lead-off homer by Chad Miller tallied seven runs on five hits aided by two BYU errors.

BYU, now 9-15 overall and 0-1 in the MWC, stranded 10 runners, while UNLV improved to 13-13 and 1-0 in the league.

Back-to-back doubles by Smith and Chris Bonnell capitalized on starter Matt Jensen's pitching struggles to put the Rebels up, 2-0, in the first inning. Jeff Hiestand's sacrifice fly scored Seth Johnson in the bottom of the first frame to put BYU aboard, 2-1.

The Rebels took a 3-1 advantage off a run enabled by a sacrifice bunt in the second. James Platt relieved Jensen at the start of the third and retired the side in order. Platt held the Rebels at bay for six innings before they got to him in the ninth.

A two-out error put BYU's Dane Nielsen on base and he advanced to second with a walk to Blake Crosby, but the Cougars stranded both of them in the fourth.

BYU's Adrian Molina made a catch at the centerfield wall to start the fifth. Smith smacked his second double of the game in the fifth. Consecutive hits by Casey Nelson and Molina started BYU's portion of the fifth. Johnson's pop bunt was caught by catcher Braden Walker (Highland, Utah), who turned the double play, catching Nelson too far off second. Stetson Banks stole second and Kenth Walton then drew a walk before the Cougars were retired on a groundout.

Coach Vance Law remained behind at the hotel with a bad migraine headache and former alums Danny Ainge and Gifford Nielsen were in the crowd. Ben Saylor missed the game due to a funeral in his family, consequently the Cougars started five freshmen.

BYU plays TCU on Thursday morning in a game that can be heard live locally on KOVO Radio 960 AM at noon.

UNLV vs Brigham Young
Mar 29, 2006 at San Diego, Calif. (Tony Gwynn Stadium)
UNLV 10 (13-15,1-0 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
LANG 2b..................  4  2  1  1   1  0  4  5   0
KOWALSKI cf..............  4  1  1  1   0  2  1  0   0
CRUZ ss..................  3  1  0  0   2  2  3  5   0
SMITH 3b.................  5  1  3  5   0  2  0  1   2
BONNELL 1b...............  5  1  2  1   0  1 10  1   1
GAILEN lf................  3  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 BORBA lf................  2  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
MILLER dh................  4  1  2  1   0  0  0  0   2
 BOWMAN dh...............  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
WALKER c.................  5  1  1  1   0  0  6  1   0
BIRD rf..................  4  2  1  0   1  1  2  0   3
SADDORIS p...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0
 WAGNER p................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 40 10 11 10   4  9 27 15   8
Brigham Young 3 (9-15,0-1 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
JOHNSON, S. rf...........  5  2  1  0   0  1  2  0   1
WALTON lf................  3  0  0  0   2  1  0  0   0
VILLEZCAS ss.............  5  0  1  1   0  0  0  3   2
HIESTAND 1b..............  3  0  0  1   1  0  7  0   2
NIELSEN dh...............  3  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
 KO dh...................  1  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
 CARTER pr...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
CROSBY 3b................  3  0  0  0   1  1  1  1   2
MOLINA cf................  3  1  1  0   1  0  6  0   2
NELSON c.................  2  0  1  0   0  0  9  0   0
 MUSSO ph................  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
BANKS 2b.................  3  0  1  0   0  1  2  1   0
 VARGAS ph...............  0  0  0  0   1  0  0  0   0
JENSEN p.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 PLATT p.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 HIGHMARK p..............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 32  3  6  2   6  5 27  7  10
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
UNLV................ 210 000 007 - 10 11  3
Brigham Young....... 100 000 002 -  3  6  2
-------------------------------------------
E - CRUZ 2; SMITH; VILLEZCAS; CROSBY. DP - UNLV 1. LOB - UNLV 8; BYU 10. 2B
- SMITH 2; BONNELL. HR - SMITH(4); MILLER(3). SH - KOWALSKI; NELSON. SF -
HIESTAND. SB - LANG 2; CRUZ; BIRD 2; BANKS. CS - MOLINA.
UNLV                   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
SADDORIS............  7.0  4  1  0  4  3 22 28
WAGNER..............  2.0  2  2  0  2  2 10 12
Brigham Young          IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
JENSEN..............  2.0  4  3  3  3  2  9 13
PLATT...............  6.0  4  3  1  0  5 23 23
HIGHMARK............  1.0  3  4  1  1  2  8  9
Win - SADDORIS (4-4).  Loss - JENSEN (0-4).  Save - WAGNER (2).
WP - WAGNER; JENSEN. PB - WALKER.
Umpires - HP: Rich Padilla  1B: Jeff Jenkins  3B: Dan Ignosci
Start: 3:04 p.m   Time: 3:09   Attendance:
UNLV vs Brigham Young - Play-by-Play
Mar 29, 2006 at San Diego, Calif. (Tony Gwynn Stadium)
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
UNLV................ 210 000 007 - 10 11  3
Brigham Young....... 100 000 002 -  3  6  2
-------------------------------------------
UNLV starters: 5/2b LANG; 12/cf KOWALSKI; 1/ss CRUZ; 14/3b SMITH; 11/1b
BONNELL; 22/lf GAILEN; 44/dh MILLER; 10/c WALKER; 34/rf BIRD; 31/p SADDORIS;
Brigham Young starters: 26/rf JOHNSON, S.; 9/lf WALTON; 10/ss VILLEZCAS; 32/1b
HIESTAND; 19/dh NIELSEN; 30/3b CROSBY; 1/cf MOLINA; 8/c NELSON; 3/2b BANKS;
21/p JENSEN;
UNLV 1st - LANG walked. KOWALSKI singled through the left side; LANG
advanced to second. KOWALSKI advanced to second on a wild pitch; LANG advanced
to third on a wild pitch. CRUZ struck out looking. SMITH doubled to center
field, RBI; KOWALSKI advanced to third; LANG scored. BONNELL doubled to right
field, RBI; SMITH advanced to third; KOWALSKI scored. GAILEN popped up to 3b.
MILLER grounded out to ss. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young 1st - JOHNSON, S. singled to left field. WALTON walked;
JOHNSON, S. advanced to second. VILLEZCAS popped up to p, bunt. WALTON advanced
to second on a passed ball; JOHNSON, S. advanced to third on a passed ball.
HIESTAND flied out to rf, SF, RBI; WALTON advanced to third; JOHNSON, S.
scored, unearned. NIELSEN flied out to cf. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
UNLV 2nd - WALKER popped up to 2b. BIRD walked. BIRD stole second. LANG
singled to right field; BIRD advanced to third. KOWALSKI grounded out to p,
SAC, bunt, RBI; LANG advanced to second; BIRD scored. CRUZ walked. CRUZ stole
second; LANG stole third. SMITH struck out swinging. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors,
2 LOB.
Brigham Young 2nd - CROSBY grounded out to 2b. MOLINA walked. MOLINA out
at second p to 1b to ss, caught stealing. NELSON grounded out to 2b. 0 runs,
0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
UNLV 3rd - PLATT to p for JENSEN. BONNELL flied out to rf. GAILEN flied
out to cf. MILLER flied out to cf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 3rd - BANKS struck out swinging. JOHNSON, S. struck out
looking. WALTON grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
UNLV 4th - WALKER grounded out to p, bunt. BIRD grounded out to 2b. LANG
grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 4th - VILLEZCAS grounded out to 3b. HIESTAND grounded out
to 2b. NIELSEN reached on an error by ss. CROSBY walked; NIELSEN advanced to
second. MOLINA grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 2 LOB.
UNLV 5th - KOWALSKI flied out to cf. CRUZ struck out swinging. SMITH
doubled to left center. BONNELL flied out to cf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
Brigham Young 5th - NELSON singled to left field. BANKS singled to
center field; NELSON advanced to second. JOHNSON, S. popped into double play c
to 2b; NELSON out on the play. BANKS stole second. WALTON walked. VILLEZCAS
reached on a fielder's choice; WALTON out at second ss to 2b. 0 runs, 2
hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
UNLV 6th - GAILEN flied out to cf. MILLER singled to center field.
WALKER flied out to rf. BIRD grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
Brigham Young 6th - BORBA to lf for GAILEN. HIESTAND popped up to 1b.
NIELSEN popped up to ss. CROSBY struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0
errors, 0 LOB.
UNLV 7th - LANG flied out to cf. KOWALSKI struck out swinging. CRUZ
grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 7th - MOLINA singled to third base. NELSON out at first p
to 2b, SAC, bunt; MOLINA advanced to second. BANKS fouled out to ss. JOHNSON,
S. grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
UNLV 8th - SMITH struck out swinging. BONNELL struck out swinging. BORBA
struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young 8th - WAGNER to p for SADDORIS. WALTON struck out looking.
VILLEZCAS grounded out to 2b. HIESTAND walked. KO to dh for NIELSEN. KO singled
to left center; HIESTAND advanced to third. CARTER pinch ran for KO. CROSBY
flied out to rf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
UNLV 9th - MILLER homered, RBI. WALKER reached on an error by ss. BIRD
singled up the middle; WALKER advanced to third. HIGHMARK to p for PLATT. LANG
reached on a fielder's choice, RBI; BIRD advanced to second; WALKER scored,
unearned. BIRD stole third. KOWALSKI struck out swinging. LANG stole second.
CRUZ walked. SMITH homered, 4 RBI, unearned; CRUZ scored, unearned; LANG
scored, unearned; BIRD scored, unearned. BONNELL singled up the middle. BORBA
popped up to 2b. BOWMAN to dh for MILLER. BOWMAN reached on an error by 3b;
BONNELL advanced to second. WALKER singled to center field, RBI; BOWMAN
advanced to second; BONNELL scored. BIRD struck out swinging. 7 runs, 5
hits, 2 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young 9th - MOLINA reached on an error by ss. MUSSO pinch hit
for NELSON. MOLINA advanced to second on a wild pitch. MUSSO struck out
swinging. VARGAS pinch hit for BANKS. VARGAS walked. JOHNSON, S. reached on a
fielder's choice; VARGAS out at second ss to 2b; MOLINA advanced to third.
WALTON reached on an error by 3b; JOHNSON, S. advanced to second; MOLINA
scored, unearned. VILLEZCAS singled up the middle, RBI; WALTON advanced to
second; JOHNSON, S. scored, unearned. HIESTAND grounded out to ss. 2 runs, 1
hit, 2 errors, 2 LOB.