Rebel baseball team loses MWC opener

Victoria Sun

Tuesday, March 12, 2002 | 10:21 a.m.

A scheduling change forced the UNLV baseball team to forgo two days of rest.

Against a BYU squad that hadn't played a game in 15 days, the Rebels looked surprisingly rustier than the Cougars.

Missed balls in left field, a thrown ball into the dugout and several other miscues by UNLV translated into a 12-5 win for BYU at Earl E. Wilson Stadium Monday night.

But that UNLV committed four errors didn't worry head coach Jim Schlossnagle as much as the team managing just six hits.

"The two reasons why we've had moderate success was because of our defense and our bullpen," Schlossnagle said. "We're fielding .972 (percent) so defense is not a concern.

"The bottom line is offensively, we haven't been able to string together quality at bats."

UNLV starter Courtney Hall (0-4) gave up 10 hits, five earned runs, two walks and struckout five in 5 2/3 innings for the loss while BYU starter Scott Koffman (2-2) allowed three hits, two earned runs and struck out two in seven innings for the win.

UNLV (10-11) returned home after going 1-2 at the Bob Schaefer Memorial at Arizona State University with a win over St. John's and losses to 15th-ranked ASU and No. 21 Oklahoma State.

The Rebels weren't able to dwell on their loss to the Cougars for too long, however, because they face them again today in a doubleheader beginning at 3:30 p.m.

Originally, UNLV was supposed to host the Cougars Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but that was swicthed to Monday and today.

"We're going to find out what kind of pride our team has because we've got two games in one day and then 10 days off," Schlossnagle said.

UNLV pinch-hitter Brad Hertel singled in two runs for the Rebels in the seventh and James Nepa delivered another run with an RBI single in the eighth. UNLV second baseman Garett Shitanishi doubled in Joe Wickman in the ninth for UNLV's final run.

BYU added three runs to its 2-1 lead in the fifth inning. Ranger Wiens scored first on Doug Jackson's RBI. Then an error plated Itri and Cameron Coughlan with two outs.

A combination of poor fielding and bad timing got the best of Hall early, but he hurt himself in the sixth inning, allowing a lead-off double and three more hits and a walk. When the inning was over, BYU had collected five more runs.