MINNEAPOLIS – The weekend started ugly. By the time UNLV boarded the flight home, it felt very different.
After getting run over in the tournament opener, the Rebels bounced back with wins over Southern Illinois and Northwestern to close the Cambria Classic at U.S. Bank Stadium. UNLV scored 26 runs across the final two games, beating Southern Illinois 16-8 on Saturday and Northwestern 10-5 on Sunday to improve to 12-5.
For Rebels fans following the trip, the final two games finally looked like the offense this team expects to bring to the park. The bats woke up, the power showed up, and the big innings followed.
The turning point came late Saturday.
UNLV jumped out early against Southern Illinois with a 5-0 lead, but the Salukis chipped away and cut the margin to two. The game tightened and the momentum began to shift.
Then the eighth inning arrived.
The rally started with pressure. Jack Salmon drove in a run with a single. Gunnar Myro followed with another RBI hit, and suddenly Southern Illinois was pitching from the stretch with traffic everywhere.
A bases loaded walk forced in another run. Ayden Garcia added a sacrifice fly.
Then the inning broke wide open.
Nin Burns II stepped in and crushed a three run homer to left center, sending the Rebels dugout into celebration. A few batters later Gavin Taylor followed with a two run blast of his own.
By the time the inning finally ended, UNLV had scored 10 runs and blown the game open.
Burns finished 4-for-6 with five RBIs in the 16-8 win, leading a lineup that piled up 15 hits.
Parker Dillhoff gave the Rebels exactly what they needed on the mound, working 6.1 innings and allowing three runs while striking out six.
And the offensive momentum did not stop there.
Less than 24 hours later, UNLV carried it into Sunday against Northwestern.
The Wildcats grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the Rebels responded with two runs in the second and gradually took control as the game moved into the middle innings.
The biggest swings came in the sixth.
Ayden Garcia drove a pitch over the right field wall for a solo homer, pushing the UNLV lead to 5-3. Moments later Cooper Sheff stepped in and launched a two run homer to left, stretching the advantage and shifting the momentum fully toward the Rebels.
UNLV kept building from there.
Marcos Rosales doubled to drive in another run and Drew Barragan followed with a triple that pushed the lead even further out of reach.
Sheff finished with two home runs and four RBIs in the 10-5 win.
Felix Ong earned the win after giving UNLV five innings while allowing three runs. LJ Manning covered the next two innings before Colton Sundloff and Jacob Gomberg closed the game with scoreless work.
Across the final two games, the middle of UNLV’s lineup delivered the kind of production Rebels fans had been waiting to see.
Burns, Sheff and Garcia powered the offense as the Rebels scored 16 runs on 15 hits against Southern Illinois and followed it with 10 runs on 10 hits against Northwestern.
Considering UNLV had been shut out in the tournament opener, the turnaround was impossible to miss.
By Sunday afternoon the offense looked much more like itself. The swings were freer, the innings longer, and the pressure constant.
For a team still searching for consistency early in the season, that might be the biggest takeaway from the trip.
Not just that UNLV won the final two games.
But the way it did.
Game Stats
vs. Southern Illinois – W, 16-8
Rebels Offense
Reggie Bussey: 0-for-4, R, RBI, BB
Nicky Garritano: 0-for-1
Marcos Rosales: 2-for-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, BB, HBP
Drew Barragan: 2-for-5, 2 R, BB
Ayden Garcia: 0-for-3, RBI, 2 BB, SF
Nin Burns II: 4-for-6, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2B, HR
Jonny Rodriguez: 1-for-4, 2 R, HBP
Gavin Taylor: 1-for-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, HR, HBP
Jack Salmon: 2-for-4, 2 R, RBI, BB
Gunnar Myro: 3-for-4, 2 R, RBI, SAC
Rebels Pitching
Parker Dillhoff (W, 2-0): 6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Colton Sundloff: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Jase Evangelista: 2.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
vs. Northwestern – W, 10-5
Rebels Offense
Reggie Bussey: 1-for-4, R, HBP
Marcos Rosales: 1-for-5, R, RBI, 2B
Drew Barragan: 1-for-5, R, RBI, 3B
Ayden Garcia: 2-for-5, 2 R, RBI, HR
Nin Burns II: 1-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB
Jonny Rodriguez: 1-for-5, R, RBI
Cooper Sheff: 3-for-4, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR
Jack Salmon: 0-for-3, RBI, SF
Gunnar Myro: 0-for-3, BB
Rebels Pitching
Felix Ong (W, 1-1): 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
LJ Manning: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Colton Sundloff: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
Jacob Gomberg: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K