LAS VEGAS - The Fresno State baseball team locked in another conference series win with its first sweep of the season after a 10-4 victory over the UNLV Rebels on the road on Sunday at Earl E. Wilson Baseball Stadium.
The Buldogs' starting pitcher Roman Angelo added five more strikeouts to his resume to increase his season total to 33, which is tied for fourth in Ks in the Mountain West.
Marco Pirruccello earned a career high four RBIs in the win over UNLV (7-14, 3-6 Mountain West) with two singles and Victor Arreola secured his first career save with three strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched for Fresno State (13-9, 7-4 MW).
HOW IT HAPPENED
The 'Dogs opened the first inning with three consecutive walks by Grady Morgan, Ben Newton, and Bobby Blandford at the top of the order. Nikoh Mitchell followed up with another walk that brought in Fresno State's inaugural run of the day. Two more runs scored in the inning on no hits after Murf Gray was hit by a pitch and Marco Pirruccello reached on a fielder's choice that placed the 'Dogs up 3-0.
After a quick three-frame inning to close out the first, Fresno State came out swinging with a leadoff single from Travis Welker, followed by a double to the centerfield wall from Grady Morgan. Back-to-back outs sent both Welker and Morgan across the dish to extend the lead to 5-0.
The 'Dogs faced some pressure in the bottom of the third when UNLV managed to load the bases early in the inning. A pair of wild pitches sent two Rebels over the plate.
Marco Pirruccello earned his second RBI of the day with a single to right field that drove in Jaden Sheppard, who had singled earlier in the inning.
Travis Welker's second hit of the game added another run to Fresno State's total in the seventh to make it a 7-2 lead over the Rebels. UNLV responded quickly with a double to open the bottom of the inning, followed shortly after by an RBI single to shorten the 'Dogs lead to 7-4. Victor Arreola took over on the mound for the Diamond 'Dogs to shut the inning down with a swinging strikeout.
The Bulldog bats weren't done yet when they reached the top of the eighth inning, where the 'Dogs scored an additional three runs off of singles from Blandford, Sheppard and Pirruccello to put their stamp on the series win.
Victor Arreola left little room for a rebuttal as he only allowed one hit for the remainder of the game and earned his first save this season for Fresno State.
UP NEXT
The 'Dogs are headed back to Fresno to face Cal Poly on Tuesday evening at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium at 6:05 p.m. PT.