March 8, 2001

PROBABLE STARTERS

  Friday - Giovanni Pupo LHP
  Saturday - Courtney Hall RHP
  Sunday - Robbie Van LHP

AGGIE TOURNAMENT HONORS

Four Hustlin' Rebels were named to the Aggie Continental Express Baseball Classic All-Tournament Team.

  C - Brad Beasley, UNLV  1B - John Purdom, ISU  2B - Ty Garner, A&M  3B - Tim Petru, A&M  SS - Ryan Ruiz, UNLV  OF - Brent Johnson, UNLV  OF - Eric Reed, A&M  OF - Rod Perry, PSU  DH - Caleb Reger, ISU  P - Matt Farnum, A&M  P - Todd Deininger, A&M  P - Courtney Hall, UNLV  MVP - Eric Reed, A&M

ABOUT AIR FORCE

The Falcons went 2-2 at home last weekend, defeating Nebraska-Omaha and losing two of three games to Northern Iowa.

Air Force leads the conference in triples (12), walks (87), errors (53) and strikeouts (156).

UNLV holds a 28-9 overall series advantage against Air Force. The Rebels won five of seven meetings last season, but lost the final meeting of the season, 13-11, in the MWC Tournament.

HUSTLIN' REBELS

UNLV went 2-2 in the Aggie Continental Express Baseball Classic over the weekend.

The Rebels opened the tournament with a 3-2 loss to Indiana State, followed by a 2-0 loss to Penn State.

Against ISU, Giovanni Pupo pitched a solid six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits. C.J. Martin started the seventh and gave up the final run with one out in the seventh to pick up the loss.

UNLV managed only three hits, one each from John Cruz, Jason Reuss and Brad Beasley.

Against Penn State in the second game, Robbie Van pitched a solid complete seven-inning game, but couldn't get the run support to earn the win. He gave up only five hits with one earned run and four strikeouts.

The Rebels again posted only three hits in the game. Ryan Ruiz went 2-for-2, while Tony Schuler finished the game 1-for-3.

UNLV picked up a pair of wins in the final day of the tournament. The Rebels opened Monday's play with a 7-1 victory over Indiana State and capped the day with an 8-4 win over Texas A&M.

Brent Johnson went a perfect 3-for-3 in the opening game against the Sycamores. He finished with two RBIs and one run scored.

Jared Bonnell pitched 5.1 innings for the Rebels to earn the win. He gave up one run on three hits with four strikeouts. Chad Harris and Joe Maruffi combined to finish the game, giving up one hit with two strikeouts.

ISU's Brian Woods (0-1) picked up the loss, going five innings and giving up five runs off six hits.

Trent Kitsch (7) and David Trujillo (2) each homered in the contest.

Courtney Hall was the story in the second game. Hall pitched a complete seven-inning game with no earned runs and seven strikeouts. Texas A&M's Joe Hart earned the loss, pitching 4.2 innings and giving up five runs.

Trujillo led the Rebels, going 3-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored. Johnson continued his productivity from the first game, going 2-for-3 with one run scored. Brad Hertel finished 2-for-4 and Brad Beasley went 1-for-3 with his third home run of the season.

INJURY UPDATE

Jake Gann is out three to six weeks with a partial tear to the distal end of the ulnarl collateral ligament (elbow). The injury is nonsurgical and should heal on its own.

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 RBIs with 28. He also takes the top spot in 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 writing to Assistant Director of Communications Brett Lowder at the MWC office or SDSU Baseball Contact Dave Kuhn prior to the event.

FORD U.S. COLLEGIATE GOLF TOUR

This Saturday the Ford U.S. Collegiate Golf Tour will set up a display just inside the gates to Earl E. Wilson Stadium.

Just by stopping by the Ford display, fans with a valid UNLV student ID will receive a raffle ticket which will qualify them to receive an expense paid trip for two to Puerto Vallarta as VIP's at the Ford U.S. Collegiate Golf Championship.

Registration will begin at 12:00 p.m.

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.