May 9, 2001

UNLV PROBABLE STARTERS

Thursday - Ryan Olson LHP
Friday - Jared Bonnell RHP
Saturday - Courtney Hall RHP

ABOUT BYU

BYU picked up a two-and-one-half game lead on San Diego State with a two-game sweep of Air Force on Monday. The Cougars have won six of their last seven contests and have won their last five conference games. BYU fell to Oklahoma State, 8-7, following a three-game sweep of San Diego State.

Outfielder and lead-off hitter Doug Jackson leads the Cougars offensively, hitting .398 (64-for-161). He also has a conference-leading seven triples.

UNLV leads the overall series between the two schools 45-40. The Rebels dropped two of the three games against BYU earlier this season in Las Vegas.

HUSTLIN' REBELS

UNLV slipped into a tie for fourth place in the Mountain West Conference following the weekend series with New Mexico. The Rebels won the first game 7-5, but dropped the following two, 7-5 and 9-5.

Garett Shitanishi is currently fourth in the conference with a .375 (69-for-184) batting average. David Trujillo follows closely behind, hitting .374 (61-for-163).

INJURY UPDATE

Third baseman Tony Schuler dislocated his shoulder against BYU on March 29 and will likely miss the remainder of the season. Outfielder Brent Johnson has taken over the responsibilities at third base in his absence.

LHP Giovanni Pupo made his first appearance on the mound against New Mexico last weekend. It was his first appearance since facing BYU on March 31. Pupo faced only two batters, walking them both.

TRUJILLO HITTING STREAK

Junior David Trujillo is currently riding a 25-game hitting streak, tying the Mountain West Conference record set by New Mexico's Scott Candelaria last season. Candelaria's collegiate career ended before the streak did.

Trujillo has picked up at least one hit in 31 of the last 32 games and 35 of the 42 games he has played this year.

Kevin Lofthus holds the UNLV record for the longest hitting streak at 34. Lofthus set the record in the 1989 season.

KITSCH RBIs

Trent Kitsch ranks 23rd in the nation with a 1.27 RBI per game average.

He currently holds the second spot in the conference for RBIs with 61. He also shares the second spot in multiple-RBI games with 18.

Versus: Washington State (3,2), Lewis-Clark State (2,2), Kansas State (5), Clemson (2), Oregon State (4), Southern Utah (2), Utah (2,2,4,3), New Mexico (2,4,2), San Diego State (2), Air Force (4,2).

Kitsch is also third in the conference in home runs with 14. BYU's Matt Carson leads the league with 16.

HIT BY PITCH

With 20 hit batters this season, RHP Courtney Hall is one hit batsman away from tying the school record set by Nate Yeskie in 1995 with 21.

FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICA ???

Starting third baseman Brent Johnson is up for Freshman All-America honors this season. Johnson made the move from the outfield to third base on April 25, and has been there since.

As an everyday player, Johnson is third on the team in average, hitting .320 (56-for-175). He leads the team in doubles (16) and stolen bases (15-for-20). He also holds the third spot on the team in RBIs with 30.

KITSCH - MLB CANADA PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Following UNLV's season-opening series against Washington State, Senior Trent Kitsch ( Kelowna, BC) was named MLB Canada's Player of the Week, as the top Canadian of the 405 currently playing baseball south of the border.

In the opener, Washington State pulled ahead on a grand slam in the top of the first inning. After the Rebels scored twice in the bottom half of the first, Kitsch hit a two-run triple in the third to bring UNLV within one at 5-4.

The Rebels put up a five-spot in the fifth, first a two-run homer, then a walk and a pair of hit-by-pitches loaded the bases. Kitsch then drew a bases-loaded walk for his third RBI of the game and the Rebels were 9-7 winners.

In the second game, Kitsch hit a scoring fly ball in the first to tie the game at 1-1 and three innings later Kitsch singled to centre for a run as the Rebels outlasted the Cougars for a 10-9 victory.

And in the series finale, the Rebels were 7-6 losers to Washington State, yet it wasn't for Kitsch's lack of hitting. The Cougars ran up a 7-0 lead before the Rebels and Kitsch went to work. Kitsch doubled and scored in the sixth. Kitsch picked up his second triple on the season in the eighth, knocking in a run. Kitsch went 2-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored.

After the weekend Kitsch saw fourth in the conference with a .444 average, with six RBIs, tied for third - despite having played only three games.

Kitsch was a member of the 1997 World Junior championship bronze medalist Canadian Youth Team and was drafted in the 22nd round by the Colorado Rockies in 1997.

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 prepared for the grind of their second season in the Mountain West Conference. UNLV also hosted a two-game series against the two-time defending NAIA National Champion Warriors of Lewis-Clark State.

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.