League title run ends for UNLV men’s swimming

The UNLV men's swimming team made a run at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, but watched its seven-year league title streak end Saturday.

UNLV finished second with 603.5 points in the meet at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, Calif.

Brigham Young won the meet with 625 points.

The Rebels had won the previous seven Mountain West Conference championships. UNLV moved to the MPSF this season.

The Rebels won three events on the final day ­-- Andrew Morrell in the 200-yard breaststroke (1 minute, 56.63 seconds), Balint Batka in the 200 butterfly (1:46.47) and the 400 freestyle relay (2:58.19). All were MPSF meet records.

■ UNLV BASEBALL -- At Los Angeles, freshman Zak Qualls, making his first start, took a no-hitter two outs into the seventh inning to help give the Rebels a 6-1 victory over Loyola Marymount and coach Tim Chambers his 500th career win.

Qualls, who retired 18 consecutive batters at one point, saw his no-hit bid end with a ground-rule double. Mark Shannon pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, giving up no hits.

Chambers is in his second year as Rebels coach. He recorded the vast majority of his victories at College of Southern Nevada.

"Getting 500 is a great accomplishment, but you can't get there without having great players, and I've been very fortunate over the years to have a lot of those kind of guys," Chamber said.

UNLV wraps up the season-opening series at 1 p.m. today. Both teams are 1-1.

■ UNLV SOFTBALL -- Amanda Oliveto's wild pitch in the seventh inning brought in the winning score for Ohio State, which beat the Rebels 4-3 in the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic at Eller Media Stadium.

The Rebels (4-4) rallied to tie Ohio State (4-4) after falling behind 3-0 in the second inning. UNLV's Pauline Monreal and Jaexie Balilea each homered to help key the comeback.

But Oliveto walked Vanessa Spears in the seventh and later brought her home with a wild pitch.

■ CSN BASEBALL -- The College of Southern Nevada (11-3) won two games in its Coyote Slugout, beating Canadian squads Okanagan College 12-1 and Prairie Baseball Academy 12-6 at Morse Stadium.

Against Okanagan, Morgan Stotts went 3-for-3 with a two-run homer, five RBIs and three runs scored. Chevas Numata was 3-for-3 with a homer against Prairie.