Rebels pad resume with rout of Wolf Pack

Collin Yelich (33) and Joey Swanner (1) greet their UNLV teammates after scoring on T.J. White’s triple in the fifth inning Saturday at Wilson Stadium. The Rebels had 14 hits in their 15-2 Mountain West win over UNR.

The hints this would be an unusual baseball game came early when UNR starter Tyler Wells seemed to make as many throws to first base as he did to the plate.

The Wolf Pack were off their game Saturday, and UNLV capitalized in key spots and banged out 14 hits in a 15-2 rout.

“The past 15 games or so, we’ve been struggling to take advantage when we get those opportunities,” said Rebels center fielder Mark Shannon, who went 3-for-5 with five RBIs, including a three-run homer that was crushed to right field. “Today showed what we can do when we actually do take advantage of it.

“I’m hoping it sparks something. There’s a great energy on the team now, and we’ve got to get back to where we were at the beginning of the year.”

UNLV (23-11, 8-6 Mountain West) goes for the series victory at 1:05 p.m. today at Wilson Stadium. The teams split the first two games.

Each victory is important for UNLV, which is listed by two websites as making an NCAA regional, though the Rebels appear to be on the bubble. One of those sites, perfectgame.org, projects them as one of the last five teams in the field of 64.

“We talked about dividing the season into thirds,” UNLV coach Tim Chambers said. “The first third was 14-3, and the second third is 9-8. So we need to play better baseball than that, and the number in my head is to finish in the top two (in the conference) and have 36 or 37 wins, or you’re not getting an at-large (bid). If we win every series the rest of the way, that should be enough.”

Saturday’s victory tied a 14-1 win over Hawaii on March 4 as the Rebels’ most one-sided of the season. The Rebels also recorded their most lopsided victory over UNR (18-16, 6-8) since winning 18-3 in 1985.

UNR did everything but walk across the field and hand the victory to the Rebels, hitting three batters, walking seven, committing three errors and allowing a run to score on catcher’s interference with the bases loaded in the first inning.

UNLV’s breakout eight-run fifth inning, which turned a three-run lead into a 12-1 advantage, occurred on just five hits.

But the Rebels did their part, including in that fifth when T.J. White delivered a two-run triple and Brandon Bayardi a three-run homer to straightaway center field 410 feet away.

All the scoring made the day simple for UNLV right-hander Buddy Borden (4-1), who allowed four hits and one run in six innings, lowering his conference-best ERA to 2.12.

Borden experienced trouble once, when he loaded the bases on two walks and a single with no outs in the third. He escaped by allowing just a run on a sacrifice fly.

“It’s kind of hard with that big of a lead,” Borden said. “You have a tendency to relax, but I think I did a good job with keeping my focus and doing the same thing I would in a 1-0 game, hopefully.”

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.