Feb. 7, 2002

PROBABLE PITCHERS
UNLV
Friday: Robbie Van LHP
Saturday: Jared Bonnell RHP
Sunday: David Seccombe RHP

NEVADA, RENO
Friday: Darrell Rasner RHP
Saturday: James Holcomb RHP
Sunday: Mateo Miramontes RHP

HUSTLIN' REBELS

The Rebels posted a 2-1 record vs. California in their season-opening series. UNLV hit .209 in the series, but raised that average to .235 against the Bears with runners on base.

Brent Johnson and Tony Schuler swung the bat well. Schuler put three hits together in his five plate appearances, while Johnson went 4-for-10 with a pair of RBIs. Garett Shitanishi hit the first home run of his career, high school or college, against the Bears on Sunday.

Transfer Jeremy Weinberg made three appearances on the mound in relief, giving up only a single hit. Doug Thornton also looked impressive in relief, pitching 3.2 innings on Friday with six strikeouts.

UNLV is 56-34 lifetime against Nevada, Reno. The Rebels dropped both games to the Wolfpack last season, 6-5 at home and 10-9 at Reno. Reno has won four of the last six meetings dating back to the 2000 season.

NEVADA WOLFPACK

Nevada, Reno won two of three games against Pepperdine to start the 2002 season and enter this weekends series with a 1.04 ERA. Collegiate Baseball Newspaper ranked UNR 35th in last week's preseason poll.

The Wolfpack are coached by Gary Powers, who in his 20th season has a combined record of 589-430-4.

RADIO

This weeks radio broadcast got a little shuffle both in the booth and on the airwaves. Originally scheduled to broadcast Friday and Saturday, AM 1400 KSHP will now broadcast the Friday and Sunday games so as not to conflict with the Big League Challenge at Cashman Field on Saturday.

Tim Neverett has been called away to work Olympic hockey, so Jon Sandler will grace the airwaves with color comentator Dick Williams over the weekend. Sandler is the former radio voice of the Las Vegas 51s and Las Vegas Thunder.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

The Rebels will play 17 games against teams that participated in the 2001 NCAA Baseball Championship, including Arizona State, Cal-Berkley, Cal-State Fullerton, Oklahoma State and BYU among others. The first 20 games for the Rebels may be the most challenging as 14 of their opponents during that stretch are ranked in the top 30 of the Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll.

Each season also brings the tough grind of Mountain West Conference play. The Rebels will play home-and-home, three-game series against five conference foes for a total of 30 conference games.The conference tournament, to be held this year in Provo, UT, will decide the conference's automatic bid into the 2002 NCAA Baseball Championship.

BASEBALL AMERICA

Baseball America predicts UNLV will finish third in the Mountain West Conference this season, behind first place BYU and second place San Diego State.

Other preseason conference honors include Brent Johnson as the Best Defensive Third Baseman and Robbie Van with the Best Breaking Ball.

AUTOMATIC BID

Twenty-nine conferences receive an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. 2001 marked the first season the Mountain West Conference received an automatic bid. The winner of the MWC Championships, held in Provo, Utah May 22-26, will receive the automatic bid.

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

The 2002 Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship will be hosted by BYU in Provo, Utah. All six Mountain West Conference teams will compete in the double-elimination tournament May 22-26. 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 Ron Christian at the MWC office or BYU Baseball Contact Ralph Zobell prior to the event.

HITTING STREAKS

Brent Johnson, Tony Schuler and David Trujillo each have a two-game hitting streak going into the weekend series with Nevada, Reno.

Trujillo led the 2001 team with a .374 batting average and set the Mountain West Conference record with a 29-game hitting streak in the second half of the season. For his efforts, Trujillo was named All-Mountain West Conference Second Team First Baseman.