Michigan
Nevada-Las Vegas
Bobeda's Blast Gives U-M Victory in Slugfest
3/22/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Site:Â College Station, Texas (Olsen Field)
Scores:Â Michigan 17, Nevada-Las Vegas 15
Records:Â U-M (7-10), UNLV (14-17)
Next U-M Games:Â Wednesday, March 24 -- at Western Michigan (Kalamazoo, Mich.), 3 p.m.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Junior outfielder Rob Bobeda (DeWitt, Mich./DeWitt HS) cracked a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the University of Michigan baseball team a 17-15 victory over Nevada-Las Vegas Monday (March 22) in U-M's final game of the Texas A&M Aggie Continental Airlines Classic. The Wolverines, 2-4 in the tourney, raised their record to 7-10, while UNLV dropped to 14-17.
Bobeda's home run ended a wild game which saw the lead change hands five times. After UNLV had scored twice in the top of the ninth to send the game into extra innings, Bobeda followed a two-out double by Jason Alcaraz (Albuquerque, N.M./Eldorado HS) with his second home run of the season. That made a winner out of Nick Alexander (Alpena, Mich./Alpena HS), who went five innings to pick up his first decision of 1999.
The Rebels tallied two runs in the first inning off Wolverine starter Ryan Kelley (Northville, Mich./Divine Child HS), but Michigan countered with two of its own in the bottom of the inning, with Dan Dombos' (Kalamazoo, Mich./Mattawan HS) two-out double driving in both runs.
Michigan exploded for six runs in the third, sending 10 batters to the plate. Mike Cervenak (New Boston, Mich./Divine Child HS) started the scoring with a two-run homer, and Brian Bush (Warren, Ohio/Howland HS), who singled to lead off the inning, capped the rally with an RBI single.
The Wolverine added two more runs in the fourth as Cervenak led off with a walk and, two outs later, scored on Alcaraz's home run, which gave Michigan a commanding 10-2 lead. UNLV scored three times in the fifth to make it 10-5, but U-M rebuilt its lead with two runs in the bottom of the inning to carry a 12-5 advantage into the sixth.
Then the floodgates opened. Jeff Trzos (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington HS) replaced Kelley on the mound to start the inning but was unable to retire a batter as the Rebels touched him for three hits and three walks before Alexander entered the game. Eliott Sarabia's two-out grand slam capped an eight-run outburst that gave the Rebels a 13-12 lead.
Michigan quickly regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth, when David Parrish (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza HS) launched a two-out home run, driving in Mike Seedstedt (Mt. Pleasant, Mich./Sacred Heart HS), who had singled. The Wolverines added another run in the eighth on Bobby Scales' (Roswell, Ga./Milton HS) solo homer, his first round-tripper of the season.
In the ninth, UNLV put together a walk, two singles and a sacrifice fly to produce two runs and tie the game at 15-all.
The Wolverines pounded out 14 hits, with Bush and Alcaraz each collecting three hits. Bush extended his career-best hitting streak to 12 games, while Alcaraz's three RBIs boosted his team-best season total to 15. Scales also had a big day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a homer, three runs scored and two driven in.
Michigan is back in action on Wednesday, March 24, with a non-conference single game against Western Michigan at 3 p.m. in Kalamazoo. It will be the Wolverines' final contest before opening Big Ten Conference play with a four-game series at Iowa Friday through Sunday, March 26-28.
All-Tournament Team
P -- Casey Fossum, Texas A&M
P -- Joe Maruffi, UNLV
P -- Vince Pistilli, Michigan
DH -- Adrian Mendoza, Cal State-Northridge
C -- Shawn Schumacher, Texas A&M
1B -- Brian Hertel, UNLV
2B -- Sean Heaney, Texas A&M
SS -- Steve Scarborough, Texas A&M
3B -- Chris Gillette, UNLV
OF -- Chris Adolph, UNLV
OF -- Steven Truitt, Texas A&M
OF -- Ryan Ludwick, UNLV (Most Valuable Player)
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