MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – UNLV baseball used a pair of home runs from Cooper Sheff and a balanced offensive attack to defeat Northwestern 10-5 on Sunday, closing out the Cambria College Classic at U.S. Bank Stadium.
HOW IT WENT DOWN: Northwestern (6-7) struck first in the bottom of the opening inning when Jack Lausch singled, stole second and third, and later scored on an RBI single by Nick Barron to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. UNLV (12-5) quickly answered in the second inning. Ayden Garcia and Nin Burns II opened the frame with singles before a Northwestern error helped load the bases. Jack Salmon tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center, and another run crossed on a wild pitch to give the Rebels a 2-1 advantage.
The Rebels extended the lead in the fourth when Sheff launched a two-run homer to left-center field after Burns II reached on an error, pushing the lead to 4-1. Northwestern chipped away in the fifth. A double by Griffin Mills set up a sacrifice fly from Lausch, and an RBI single by Jackson Freeman trimmed the deficit to 4-3.
UNLV responded with its biggest offensive surge in the sixth inning. Garcia led off with a solo home run to right field, and two batters later Sheff delivered again, blasting a two-run homer to left to stretch the lead to 7-3. The Rebels kept the pressure on in the seventh. Marcos Rosales drove in a run with an RBI double before Drew Barragan followed with an RBI triple to center. Jonny Rodriguez later added an RBI single to cap a three-run inning and extend the lead to 10-4.
Northwestern managed one more run in the seventh when Lausch tripled and scored on a groundout by Ryan Kucherak, but UNLV’s bullpen shut the door from there.
LJ Manning allowed two runs in relief before Colton Sundloff and Jacob Gomberg combined for two scoreless innings to close out the victory.
QUOTABLE: “Great way to finish the weekend. We got beat up pretty good on Friday night, had a quick turnaround and played well early Saturday morning. Played errorless baseball today and finished the weekend strong which good teams do. Proud of their effort.”
-Head Coach Stan Stolte
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
–Felix Ong picked up his first win of the season after going 5.0 innings where he gave up six hits, three earned runs, two walks and three strikeouts.
–Cooper Sheff went 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI.
–Ayden Garcia tallied double-digit hits for the fourth time this season.
-Northwestern only walked twice in the game compared to UNLV’s three walks.
–Reggie Bussey has a hit in six of the seven games he has played in this season.
UP NEXT: UNLV returns home to Earl E. Wilson Stadium where they will host UC Riverside on Tuesday, March 10 at 2:05 pm.
