UNLV roundup: Potent bats, Maddux’s arm lift baseball team

Edarian Williams, Austin Pfeifer and Grant Robbins drove in three runs apiece to back Chase Maddux, who pitched 6⅔ innings, as UNLV downed St. John’s 12-2 in a nonconference baseball game Saturday at Wilson Stadium.

Maddux (1-0) held the Red Storm (3-8) to two runs on six hits and one walk, with two strikeouts. Robbins and Pfeifer homered, and Williams had one of the three triples for the Rebels (5-10), who totaled 14 hits — eight for extra bases.

Eric Bigani went 3-for-4 with a double and scored three runs. James Gamble had a triple and a double for UNLV, which broke open the game with a five-run fifth inning in which all of its four hits came with two outs.

Robbins’ homer was a three-run shot in the fifth, and Pfeifer followed a seventh-inning triple by Austin Kryszczuk with a two-run blast.

Mike Antico hit a solo home run in the first and Peter Abinanti an RBI single in the seventh for St. John’s, which totaled seven hits in its sixth straight loss.

Abinanti and Colin Wetterau each had two hits for the Red Storm, and Carson Bartels had a double and scored.

SOFTBALL

At Phoenix, Jenny Bressler pitched a two-hit shutout, and the Rebels scored on a third-inning error in a 1-0 win over Montana in the Lopes Up Classic.

In UNLV’s first game of the day, Mia Trejo went 4-for-4 with a double and an RBI single in a four-run second for the Rebels in their 5-1 victory over St. Joseph’s.

Bressler (10-3) struck out eight and issued three walks as UNLV (20-5) notched its fifth straight win. She outdueled Michela Hood (3-5), who held the Rebels to one unearned run on three hits and four walks. She struck out nine, but the Grizzlies fell to 11-11.

UNLV’s run came after Jaclyn Candelas led off the third with a single and was sacrificed to second base. She scored when an error was committed on a ball hit by Justine Federe.

Rebels starter Charlie Masterson (6-2) went the distance against the Hawks (3-10), allowing one unearned run on four hits and no walks, with three strikeouts.

Samantha Diaz hit a two-run double to cap the scoring UNLV’s four-run second inning. Federe went 2-for-3 and scored twice against St. Joseph’s.

Kirstin Cox went 2-for-3 and scored the Hawks’ run, and Jancarla Herrera’s double was the lone extra-base hit in either game for the Rebels’ opponents.

MEN’S GOLF

At Boulder City, freshman George Leigh finished at 7-under-par 209 to place third in the Jackrabbit Invitational’s 84-player field, six strokes behind medalist Dustin Hasley of Oral Roberts. The Rebels were not entered as a team.

Also for UNLV, freshman Falko Hanisch tied for seventh at 1-under 215, sophomore David Rauch tied for ninth at 216, and freshman Jack Kozlowski tied for 29th at 223.