Rebel baseball team falls to BYU in MWC tourney

Friday, May 24, 2002 | 9:39 a.m.

PROVO, Utah -- The UNLV baseball team lost Thursday to host BYU 13-11 in the Mountain West Conference tournament.

The Rebels face Utah this afternoon in an elimination game. UNLV upset second-seeded Utah 13-9 on Wednesday.

Against BYU, the Rebels jumped to a 6-0 lead in the second inning, with senior Jason Reuss picking up a three-run double. But the Cougars answered back with five runs in the bottom of the inning.

The Cougars put up seven runs during the middle innings to take a 12-7 lead before the Rebels mounted a comeback and brought the game within a run. BYU added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth for the eventual 13-11 final.

UNLV starter Courtney Hall gave up five runs on seven hits in 1 1/3 innings. Ben Scheinbaum (2-3) was saddled with the loss. He gave up four runs on seven hits in four innings.

MWC Freshman of the Year Joe Wickman extended his conference-leading hitting streak to 20 games with a 1-for-5 outing.

In earlier action, New Mexico and Air Force were eliminated. Utah defeated the Lobos 9-8 and San Diego State beat the Falcons 9-6. San Diego State and BYU remain undefeated heading into today.