UNLV roundup: Baseball team stays hot, wins league opener
Nick Ames hit a three-run homer to highlight a six-run third inning for UNLV in its 7-6 victory over Fresno State in both teams’ Mountain West baseball opener Friday at Wilson Stadium.
Nick Rodriguez went 3-for-3 with a solo home run for the Rebels (9-1, 1-0), who won their sixth straight and halted a four-game win streak by the Bulldogs (8-3, 0-1).
UNLV, which was outhit 11-6, totaled three hits and three walks in the decisive third. The Rebels also benefited from a hit-batsman and an error in the inning.
UNLV starter Alan Strong (2-0) allowed four runs on 10 hits and no walks and struck out six in 7 2/3 innings.
J.T. Arruda and Miles Tomczak each went 2-for-4 with a double, Zach Ashford went 2-for-5, and Jeremiah Burks hit a two-run homer for Fresno State, which led 3-0 after the first inning.
SOFTBALL
At Phoenix, Justine Federe went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBIs to back Janine Petmecky, who struck out eight over seven innings, leading the Rebels to a 7-1 win over Princeton in the Lopes Up Classic.
In UNLV’s first game of the day, Dustie Durham pitched a five-hit shutout and had an RBI single in the sixth, lifting South Dakota to a 1-0 victory over the Rebels.
Charlie Masterson (3-2) held the Coyotes (5-13) to one run on six hits and no walks and struck out two in six innings.
Petmecky (6-1) limited the Tigers (0-2) to one run on three hits and one walk.
Alyssa Navarro’s double was the lone extra-base hit by UNLV (12-5) against Durham (4-4), who issued one walk and struck out two.
After Princeton went ahead 1-0 on the third, the Rebels took control in the bottom of the inning on Federe’s three-run double.
Mia Trejo went 2-for-3 with an RBI for UNLV, which held an 8-3 edge in hits over the Tigers.
TRACK AND FIELD
Freshman Avi’Tal Perteete qualified for the NCAA indoor championships in the 800-meter run after running a program-best 2 minutes, 4.01 seconds at last week’s Mountain West indoor championships.
She is seeded 12th out of 16 for next week’s preliminaries in College Station, Texas.
Perteete’s participation in the NCAA indoor meet marks the second straight year that the Rebels have had a competitor in the event. Fellow Oakland, California, native Destiny Smith-Barnett placed 14th in the 60 last season.
