Friday, May 27, 2005 | 9:37 a.m.
SALT LAKE CITY -- The top-seeded UNLV baseball team got a scare from Utah in its first game of the Mountain West Conference tournament, but held on for a 5-3 win to advance to the championship game against BYU.
Utah's John Welsh hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning to cut a 5-0 lead within two, and the Utes got the tying run to second base with no outs in the ninth.
Rebels closer Kyle Tabeek created his own mess by giving up a single and double to open the final frame, but UNLV coach Buddy Gouldsmith trusted him to clean it up, and Tabeek responded against the next three batters he faced, striking out the final two.
"We haven't done anything easy all year," Gouldsmith said. "It would have been nice to flow through the ninth, but we worked out of the jam."
UNLV (31-26) plays No. 2 seed BYU, a 4-3 winner against San Diego State on Thursday, at 3 p.m. today. Utah was to meet San Diego State or New Mexico today in a 11 a.m. loser-out game.
"A loss is a loss," Utah coach Bill Kinneberg said. "I guess you get a little more disappointed when you have a chance at the end."
The way UNLV starter Matt Luca pitched, the Utes were fortunate to be close at all. The Rebels stranded nine runners, and wasted a first-and-third situation with no outs in the fourth.
In a dominating performance, Luca allowed three hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out seven. Only a prescribed pitch count prevented the junior from completing what he started.
"I was bringing the ball down in the zone," Luca said, adding that pitch location was much more important than the type of pitch. "You get a lot of ground balls."
The Utes were certainly frustrated.
"He kept pounding the first pitch in for strike one," Kinneberg said. "He was wearing out the outside half and we didn't make adjustments."
Utah didn't have the same problem with the Rebels' normally reliable bullpen. Welsh, looking for a fastball, followed two walks by Wayne Foltin with a blast over the left-field wall.
"In college baseball, five- and six-run innings are common," Welsh said. "We were still relaxed. We knew what we had to do."
Welsh said Utah must approach today's knockout game as just another game.
"When we play our best, we can play with anyone," he said.
UNLV opened the game as if it wanted to settle things early. The Rebels scored twice in the first inning, including an RBI double by Ryan Bird.
Bird also drove in UNLV's third run with a fifth-inning single. The Rebels tacked on two more in the sixth when center fielder J.C. Sibley complemented two outstanding catches with a two-run single.
Utah starter Jason Price kept UNLV within hailing distance, but couldn't overcome the Rebels' constant pressure.
"I thought it would get the bats going," Bird said of his first-inning RBI. "It never worked out that way."
As far as meeting BYU, the Rebels are looking for payback after losing four of six to the Cougars.
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