Rebels look ahead after tourney ouster

UNLV's players hugged afterward, like high school seniors at graduation heading off into possibly exciting but uncertain futures.

For the Rebels, it's all about the future because they just as soon would forget the present.

UNLV's baseball season ended Friday when it didn't have the pitching, committed three errors and was forced to constantly play catch-up in a 15-9 loss to San Diego State.

The fourth-seeded Rebels (26-31) went 0-2 in their brief stay at the UNLV-hosted tournament at Wilson Stadium.

Third-seeded San Diego State (25-33) will play No. 2 seed Texas Christian (36-18), which lost 5-2 to No. 1 seed New Mexico (35-22), at 3 p.m. today. The Lobos will play the winner at 7 p.m. and clinch the championship in the double-elimination tournament with a victory.

But if New Mexico loses tonight, the teams play at 1 p.m. Sunday for the title and automatic NCAA regional bid.

UNLV can only hope to be part of postseason discussions in future years. Though this was far from the type of season second-year coach Tim Chambers envisioned, he likes the foundation that has been set.

So does junior outfielder Brandon Bayardi, who will decide in probably the next two weeks whether he will return or go pro.

"There's definitely a lot of upside," Bayardi said. "Our team was very young. We had a lot of freshmen, two freshman pitchers (Erick Fedde and Zak Qualls) that are going to be outstanding in the years to come."

UNLV made a strong effort to continue its season, rallying from a 7-0 deficit after two innings. The Rebels finally caught San Diego State when Mark Shannon launched a three-run homer to right-center field in the sixth inning to make it 8-8.

"Down in the dugout, we all felt like the momentum was shifting and we had a chance," Bayardi said.

San Diego State, however, answered with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to go back in front, 12-8.

The Rebels got one more chance, scoring a run in the eighth and then loading the bases with no outs. But Trevor Kirk popped up to second base, and Bayardi hit a sharp grounder to Tim Zier at second to begin a rally-killing double play.

"I felt like we could've taken the rest of the momentum back," Bayardi said. "It just didn't happen."

The Aztecs scored three more runs in the eighth.

"They had bounce-back innings on us all day long, and we just didn't stop them," Chambers said. "We didn't make the plays.

"Offensively, 15 hits is plenty enough to win. The bottom line is we just didn't make the plays and the pitches to win the game."

So a frustrating season came to a frustrating end for the Rebels.

It wasn't what Chambers and his team wanted, but they're hopeful about the future. As the players said goodbye afterward, most knew they would see each other again soon.

"I love our freshman class we have here and our sophomore class," Chambers said. "If we can land all the guys we signed and get them on campus, I think we're on our way."

■ New Mexico 5, TCU 2 - The Lobos allowed seven hits and held the Horned Frogs scoreless over the final six innings.

Bobby Mares, who picked up the save, struck out six of the eight batters he faced.

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