UNLV roundup: Kryszczuk, Dunn power baseball team’s victory

Austin Kryszczuk hit two two-run homers and Chris Dunn a grand slam to lead UNLV past Creighton 12-3 in a nonconference baseball game Sunday at Wilson Stadium.

Josh Sharman (1-1) allowed two runs on six hits and one walk and struck out nine over 7⅓ innings for the Rebels (3-8), who took two of three in the weekend set. Ryan Mantle homered twice for the Bluejays (4-5).

Sharman, a left-hander, opened with three straight perfect innings and picked three runners off first base, including two in the fifth inning.

Kryszczuk, who drew two walks and scored three runs, opened the scoring with his first home run, kick-starting a four-run second inning.

Dunn’s slam put UNLV up 8-1 in the fifth, and the lead ballooned to 11-1 in the sixth when Jack-Thomas Wold hit a solo home run and Kryszczuk belted his second two-run shot.

Grant Robbins had a triple and a double for the second straight day for the Rebels, who held a 12-8 edge in hits. Edarian Williams and Eric Bigani each had two hits and scored twice for UNLV.

Garrett Gilbert, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI single, and Mantle were the lone Creighton players with multiple hits. Mantle’s homers, both solo shots, came in the seventh and ninth.

SOFTBALL

At Eller Media Stadium, Jenny Bressler struck out six in her fourth shutout of the season, and Lauryn Barker went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the Rebels past Texas-El Paso 8-0 in the Boyd Gaming Classic finale.

UNLV (16-5) totaled 16 hits in its ninth win in 10 games. The Miners (4-15) lost their fifth in a row.

Bressler (8-3) worked around five hits and four walks in her fifth complete game of the season, lowering her ERA to 1.43.

Mia Trejo went 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI, Samantha Diaz went 2-for-4 with a double and scored three runs, Lauren Tycksen went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, and Justine Federe went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

UTEP starter Isabella Kelly (3-8) went the distance, allowing eight runs — six earned — while walking two and striking out two. Nine Rebels had at least one hit.

Idalis Mendez went 2-for-2 for the Miners.

MEN’S GOLF

At Southern Highlands Golf Club, Jack Trent and Falko Hanisch each shot 5-over-par 77 to lead the Rebels, who were last in a 15-team field at 31-over 319 after the first round of the three-round Southern Highlands Collegiate.

In a field including all of the top five teams and nine of the top 25 in the Golfweek rankings, unranked Southern California was the lone team to come in under par, at 1-under 287.

No. 4-ranked Texas was alone in second at 4-over 292, and unranked UCLA was third at 5-over 293.

No. 7 Texas Tech and No. 22 Florida were tied for fourth at 295, No. 19 Georgia was sixth at 296, and No. 1 Oklahoma was seventh at 298.

No. 5 Duke, No. 13 Southern Methodist and unranked Central Florida were tied for eighth at 300, No. 2 Georgia Tech was 11th at 302, and No. 3 Pepperdine, New Mexico and Texas Christian were tied for 12th at 304.

Georgia junior Davis Thompson and Southern California freshman Yuxin Lin were tied atop the leaderboard at 5-under 67, one stroke better than UCLA junior Devon Bling.

Trent, Hanisch and freshman Jack Kozlowski — who is participating as an individual for UNLV — were tied for 40th in the 84-player field.

Next for the Rebels were sophomore David Rauch (10-over 82, tied for 77th), senior Justin Kim (83, tied for 80th) and freshman George Leigh (84, tied for 83rd). Junior J.J. Gresco, participating as an individual, shot 85 and was alone in 84th.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Junior guard Bailey Thomas was named Mountain West defensive player of the year, and senior forward Rodjanae Wade was selected to the 10-member all-conference team.

Thomas and senior guard LaTecia Smith were named to the Mountain West’s five-member all-defensive team, and forward Isis Beh was selected to the five-member all-freshman team.

Thomas, a Centennial product, regularly was matched against an opponent’s top-scoring guard. She averaged 1.67 steals per game, had multiple steals in eight games and had at least one steal in 15 of 18 conference games.

Wade, from Fresno, California, averaged 17.1 points and a Mountain West-best 13.2 rebounds. Her 238 rebounds broke the league’s previous single-season high by 40.

Wade, the nation’s top offensive rebounder at 5.5 per game, had 16 double-doubles in 18 games to lead the Mountain West. Her 20 total double-doubles tied the program record and were one off the league mark.

Smith, from Gardenia, California, was one of three players to average more than two steals per game in league play, at 2.06. She had multi-steal games 11 times in league play, including an eight-game stretch in which she totaled 31.

Beh, from Murray, Utah, shot a team-high 52.2 percent from the floor while averaging 3.4 points and 3.4 rebounds. In her lone start, she had eight points and six rebounds.

The Lady Rebels (13-16, 9-9 Mountain West) open play in the league tournament at 2:30 p.m. Monday against San Jose State (18-11, 12-6) in a quarterfinal at the Thomas & Mack Center.