March 1, 2001
COMPLETE TEXAS A&M SCHEDULE
Friday Indiana St. vs. UNLV 11:00 a.m. Texas A&M vs. Penn St. 5:00 p.m.
Saturday Penn State vs. UNLV 8:00 a.m. Penn State vs. Indiana St. 3:00 p.m. Texas A&M vs. UNLV 6:00 p.m.
Sunday UNLV vs. Penn State 11:00 a.m. Texas A&M vs. Indiana St. 5:00 p.m.
Monday Indiana St. vs. Penn St. 8:00 a.m. UNLV vs. Indiana St. 11:00 a.m. Texas A&M vs. UNLV 3:00 p.m. Texas A&M vs. Penn St. 6:00 p.m. All Times Listed PST
LIVE SCORING Texas A&M will provide live scoring of all games throughout the tournament. Click Here for updates.
RADIO/WEBCASTS
UNLV's games against Texas A&M should be available on the internet through AggieAthletics.com. Fans can Click Here to tune in.
Games against Penn State and Indiana State will not be broadcast.
ABOUT TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M snapped a six-game losing streak with a pair of wins over Baylor (8-6) and Houston (7-6). The Aggies enter the tournament with a 5-9 record and an even 1-1 series record against the Rebels.
UNLV participated in the 1999 Aggie Classic where the teams split a pair of contests. UNLV won the first game 14-3, while the Aggies bounced back in the final game for a 5-4 victory.
ABOUT PENN STATE
This year's tournament competition marks the first meeting between UNLV and Penn State. The 2001 Continental Express Aggie Baseball Classic begins a ten-game nine-day road trip for the Nittany Lions. Following the Aggie Classic, Penn State travels to Edinburg, Texas for a four-game stand against Texas-Pan American and Troy State.
Penn State dropped two of three games at Virginia prior to their arrival this weekend. The Nittany Lions lost the first two games, 6-5 and 15-4, but rebounded in the final game for the 7-6 victory.
ABOUT INDIANA STATE
Indiana State has only played one game this season, a 3-2 loss to Saint Louis University. Friday's game will be the first meeting between the two teams.
HUSTLIN' REBELS
UNLV picked up a 9-5 victory over Southern Utah on Tuesday.
Courtney Hall earned the win for UNLV. He pitched six innings, giving up four runs on five hits with six strikeouts. C.J. Martin came in for relief, pitching two innings and giving up one run on three hits. Junior Joe Maruffi, out all season due to injury, made his first mound appearance. He pitched the ninth inning, striking out the side.
UNLV and Southern Utah, scoreless in the first, swapped runs in the second inning. UNLV's Zach Strong singled to right center, scoring Brent Johnson who reached on an error.
The Thunderbirds took a brief two run lead through three before the Rebels were able to post a pair of runs in both the fourth and fifth innings.
In the fourth, Jason Reuss singled to center and stole second before reaching the plate on an error by the shortstop. Strong, who reached base on the error, later scored on a Brad Beasley single to left field.
Garett Shitanishi led off the fifth inning with a single to right field, advanced to second on a John Cruz sacrifice and scored on a Trent Kitsch double to right center. Kitsch later scored on a Reuss single up the middle.
Leading 6-4, the Rebels posted three runs in the seventh. In identical fashion to the fifth, Shitanishi led off the inning with a single and crossed the plate on a Kitsch double to right center. Kitsch stole third and scored on an error by the catcher. Brent Johnson later singled to score Joe Jacobitz who reached on a hit-by-pitch.
Five Rebels ended the game with two hits in the ballgame. Shitanishi went 2-for-5, while Kitsch, Johnson and Beasley all finished 2-for-4. Reuss went 2-for-3.
INJURY UPDATE
Jake Gann, who pitched five innings against Clemson last weekend, is not expected to throw at Texas A&M. He is suffering from a sore elbow which flared up following the Clemson game.
Ryan Olson is expected to make his first appearance of the season on the mound this weekend. He suffered a broken ankle on the first day of practice.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The tough 2001 schedule boasts competition against four teams that ranked in the top 25 at the end of the 2000 season. No. 7 Clemson, No. 8 Nebraska, No. 17 UCLA and No. 19 Penn State are stacked on the first half of the schedule as the Rebels prepare for the grind of their second season in the Mountain West Conference. UNLV also hosts a two-game series against the two-time defending NAIA National Champion Warriors of Lewis-Clark State.
KITSCH RBIs
Trent Kitsch currently holds the top spot in the conference for multiple-RBI games with eight.
Washington State (3,2), Lewis-Clark State (2,2), Kansas State (5), Clemson (2), Oregon State (4), Southern Utah (2).
AUTOMATIC BID
Twenty-nine conferences receive an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. 2001 marks the first season the Mountain West Conference will receive an automatic bid. The winner of the MWC Championships, held in San Diego May 16-19, will receive the automatic bid.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The 2001 Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship will be hosted by San Diego State University in San Diego, Calif. All six Mountain West Conference teams will compete in the double-elimination tournament May 16-19. Seedings will be decided by regular season results in conference games.
All requests for media credentials for the Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship should be submitted in writting to Assistant Director of Communications Brett Lowder at the MWC office or SDSU Baseball Contact Dave Kuhn prior to the event.
ROD SOESBE
Rod Soesbe begins his 17th season at UNLV. On Sept. 10, 1996 he was named head coach, the fourth in UNLV baseball history. Soesbe spent 12 seasons as the top assistant to Fred Dallimore.
In the Summer of 1999, he served as an assistant coach for the USA Baseball National Team under Texas A&M head coach Mark Johnson.
The 2001 season is Soesbe's fifth as the head coach of the Hustlin' Rebels. Last season, he led the Rebels to a 24-33 record, 14-16 in the Mountain West Conference.
UNLV compiled a 43-17 record in 1996 and captured the Big West Tournament Championship with victories over nationally ranked UC-Santa Barbara, Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State. UNLV also posted the fourth highest batting average (.332) in school history that year and set single-season school records for most runs scored (550) and most runs batted in (500).
Soesbe came to UNLV in 1985 and served as the team's hitting instructor, working with the infielders and third base coach.
