Rebels get sloppy, drop series to UNR

UNLV appeared to be in control early against a pitcher who was 0-6 with a 7.59 ERA, but Rebels baseball coach Tim Chambers sensed trouble.

He told one of his assistant coaches his team was “flat,” and that quickly became apparent.

The Rebels stopped getting hits off right-hander Tom Jameson, allowing the Wolf Pack to rally Sunday at Wilson Stadium. UNR completed its comeback in the top of the ninth inning on two-out RBI singles by Scott Kaplan and Jamison Rowe to win 5-4 and take two of three games in the series.

“We gave them the game,” Chambers said. “I’m not afraid to say it. We gift-wrapped it and said, ‘Here you go. Take it.’ This one stings a little bit. But this group of guys, I can’t get too mad at them. They’ll bounce back.”

The series loss could be costly for the Rebels (23-12, 8-7 Mountain West) because they are a bubble team for an NCAA regional berth.

Early on, it didn’t appear UNLV would have many problems against UNR (19-16, 7-8), taking a 3-0 lead after two innings against Jameson, who hadn’t won since beating San Jose State on May 12, 2012.

The Rebels might have had a false sense of security, though, because Jameson is a proven starter. He went 7-2 with a 2.55 ERA last season and was named first-team All-Western Athletic Conference.

Jameson began to pitch his best Sunday when it appeared the Rebels were about to blow open the game, putting runners on the corners with no outs in the third. But Ryan Scott struck out and Joey Armstrong grounded into a double play.

Chambers felt his team might be in trouble, and he was right. That third began a six-inning scoreless stretch, with just three hits over that span.

“Baseball’s all about momentum,” said UNLV left fielder Joey Swanner, who was 2-for-5 with two RBIs. “It’s funny how things change, but good teams counteract the momentum, especially when we give it to them. It’s our job as hitters to take it right back the next inning, and unfortunately we just couldn’t do it.”

UNR began its comeback in the fifth when Brett Jones hit a two-run homer to bring the Wolf Pack to within 3-2, and things went downhill for UNLV.

Armstrong somehow failed to catch a popout at third base in the sixth, and right fielder Brandon Bayardi let a fly ball land between him and the wall in the ninth.

Armstrong’s miscue let in the tying run, and Bayardi’s set up the go-ahead score.

“(Bayardi) said he lost it in the sun,” Chambers said. “I’m not going to blame the loss on Brandon because I would never do that, but he’s a senior that’s played right field for four years. He should be able to know where the sun’s at and block the sun out in right field. So, yeah, I blame him for that. It’s terrible. It’s not good. You’ve got to catch that ball.”

Even after Bayardi’s misplay, reliever Andrew Beresford got two more outs. But then Kaplan grounded back right to Beresford, and the ball ricocheted off his leg to score Meyer with the go-ahead run. Beresford’s throwing error sent Kaplan all the way to third, where he then scored on Rowe’s single.

The Rebels scored in the bottom of the ninth on an error, but T.J. White grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

“We should’ve had seven on the board, and should never been in that spot in the first place,” Chambers said. “It’s conference play. When you get a team down like that, you’ve got to step on them.”

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.