UNLV 12, New Mexico 5

Friday, May 23, 2003 | 1:10 a.m.

ALBUQUERQUE AP) - The 18th-ranked and top-seeded UNLV Rebels made short work of the fourth-seeded Lobos in a 12-5 win Thursday in the second-round game of the Mountain West Conference baseball tournament.

UNLV sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning, scoring six times.

The Rebels (43 (15)-, who beat the Lobos 34 (26)- six times in seven meetings this season, scored in each of the first five innings to build a commanding 12-4 lead. After the second inning, every Rebels starter had at least one hit, with UNM starter Kris Gross 6 (4)- chased from the mound before he could get the second out in the first inning.

Five other Lobos hurlers saw action in the one-sided affair, which advanced UNLV into a Friday semifinal game against the winner of the San Diego State-Brigham Young contest. Four of the Rebels' first 10 runners who scored didn't even have to swing the bat to get on base - two were walked and two were hit by pitches.

Patrick Dobson hit a three-run homer in the first, his 10th of the season. The Rebels' 18-hit attack was aided by a three-hit day by Garrett Shitanishi and two-hit outings by Stephen Ghutzman, Fernando Valenzuela, Brent Johnson, Eddie Gill, Eric Nielsen, Robert Vankirk and Dobson.

UNM, led by first baseman Chris Alexander's three-hit day, ended its season on a five-game skid.