BYU ends Chambers’ first year at UNLV

It wasn't the ending Tim Chambers hoped for in his first year as UNLV's baseball coach, but it was still the Rebels' most successful season since 2004.

Third-seeded Brigham Young eliminated UNLV from the Mountain West Conference tournament with a 5-1 defeat Wednesday in San Diego.

The Rebels finished 33-25, their best record since going 37-24 seven years ago and the program's first winning record since 2005.

"We've got a great bunch of seniors, and that really made the transition easy for everybody," Chambers said. "The challenge was to make sure that this thing didn't fall apart.

"When you've got a situation where half the team is made up of new guys and the other half is returning players, if things go south a little bit, it's not always easy to keep the ship together. But these guys never jumped off. There's some good things ahead for Rebel baseball."

Chambers took over UNLV after 11 enormously successful seasons at the College of Southern Nevada, where he won a junior college national championship in 2003.

The Rebels took a 1-0 lead on the Cougars (30-26) in the top of the second inning but couldn't add to it against Taylor Cole, who allowed eight hits and struck out five in 7 2/3 innings.

BYU's defense backed Cole with two double plays.

"There's no question that it's our pitching and defense that are keeping us close right now," Cougars coach Vance Law said.

Cash Thomas, who went 3-for-3, was the only UNLV player to have much offensive success against BYU.