UNLV Rallies Late as Utes Fall, 6-1

Friday, April 1

Salt Lake City (Spring Mobile)

6:00 PM

University of Utah

11-10, 4-2

UNLV

19-9, 2-5

UNLV

Utah

4/1/2011 12:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 1, 2011

Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY - A four-run eighth inning broke up a pitchers duel and lifted UNLV to a 6-1 victory over the Utah baseball team on Friday evening.

Utah starter Rick Anton and UNLV's Tanner Peters each surrendered only one run through the first seven innings. UNLV got on the board in the first inning after Trevor Kirk singled up the middle to lead off the game and scored on a single from Brandon Bayardi after Utah second baseman Michael Beltran misread the ball off Bayardi's bat.

Utah countered in the bottom of the fourth inning after UNLV left two runners on in the top of the inning. Beltran led off the inning with a single, but C.J. Cron was robbed of extra bases after a diving stop by UNLV third baseman Richie Jimenez, who threw to second to get the force on Beltran. Cron would move to second on a wild pitch, advancing to third on a ground out before scoring on an RBI single from Cody Guymon.

The Utes looked to get something going in the sixth as Cron (who had two hits in the game to extend his hitting streak to 30 games) led off the inning with a double to deep center field, but could not bring him in.

Utah played solid defense throughout the game, with the infield knocking down several hard-hit balls in the fifth and sixth innings for infield outs.

Anton was limited by a high pitch count, throwing 31 pitches in the first inning (he threw 12 pitches to the game's leadoff hitter) and 111 through his seven innings. He had eight strikeouts.

Kesley Kondo entered in relief in the eighth and gave up four runs after leading off the inning by hitting pinch hitter Hunter Beaty. The Rebels had five hits in the inning to take a 5-1 lead.

UNLV added an insurance run in the ninth off a squeeze play.

Peters went the distance for UNLV, striking out eight. He allowed seven hits and one run for his fifth win of the year. Kondo earned the loss for Utah, falling to 0-1 on the year.

"We hung in there, and I kept thinking that if we put up zeros on defense we could put something together," Utah head coach Bill Kinneberg said. "It got away from us in the eighth. Rick was still going strong but we have a lot of innings left to play this year. Kesley has been good for us all year, and this was just a blip - he'll be back tomorrow.

"Peters is as good as we have seen all year - he is one of the better pitchers in the conference, if not the best."

Cron, Beltran and Guymon each had two hits for Utah. UNLV was led by Kirk's 3-for-5 performance.

Utah and UNLV get back after it on Saturday, April 2, at 1:00 p.m. at Spring Mobile Ballpark. Stay tuned to UtahUtes.com for any weather updates.