March 28, 2002
11-16, 1-5 Mountain West Conference
7-9 HOME, 0-5 AWAY, 4-2 NEUTRAL
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Friday: Courtney Hall RHP
Saturday: Jared Bonnell RHP
Sunday: Robbie Van LHP
UNLV REBELS
UNLV is in the midst of a five-game, seven-day stint that began with a 7-3 loss to UC-Irvine on Tuesday. The Rebels return home to host a three-game series with New Mexico followed by a Monday night showdown with Arizona State.
UNLV has won only one its last nine contests and takes on a New Mexico team this weekend that has won 10 of its last 13 games.
Eric Nielsen is hitting .417 in conference play and has vaulted into the top spot on the Rebels' offensive stat sheet with a .337 average.
The Rebels have the best team fielding percentage in the conference at .963.
UNLV holds a 45-32 overall series lead against New Mexico despite taking only two of the seven meetings last season. In their last meeting, the Rebels dropped a 5-2 decision to the Lobos in the second game of the 2001 MWC Championships in San Diego.
NEW MEXICO LOBOS
New Mexico enters the series with a 15-14 record and is 5-1 in the Mountain West Conference. The Lobos boast a .355 team batting average and have nine players hitting .300 or better, including Todd Stroud who is hitting .519 on the season.
After being named MWC Player of the Week last week, Stroud went 6-for-12 (.500) with two homers and five RBIs in a three-game series with Air Force. Stroud became the first Lobo to hit for the cycle since Chad Alevras (1997). Stroud singled in the second, doubled in the fourth, homered in the fifth and tripled in the seventh inning of Saturday's 19-9 win over Air Force.
EASTER EGG HUNT
Following the game on March 31, the UNLV marketing department will put together an Easter egg hunt at the stadium. The Easter festivities are open to kids ages 12 and under.
CONFERENCE HITTING STREAK IN JEOPARDY
Troy Cairnes enters the series with a 27-game hitting streak. If he is able to extend it through the weekend, he would eclipse David Trujillo's MWC record of 29 set last season.
INJURY UPDATE
Reliever Jake Gann is still rehabbing after Tommy John surgery over the summer. The team hopes to have him back mid-way through conference play.
HITTING STREAKS
Brent Johnson's hitting streak came to an end at 13 games after an 0-for-2 showing at Irvine. The longest hitting streak of the season belongs to Johnson at 13, while Garett Shitanishi and Robert VanKirk each had 10-game hitting streaks at one point.
Ryan Ruiz now has the longest hitting streak on the team at two games.
SEASON OF THE BALK
Through 26 games this season, the Rebels have already been called for 19 balks. Twelve of those have been called at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. UNLV committed only five balks all last season and racked up a combined total of just 15 over the last four seasons.
The Rebels' opponents also have 21 balks on the season, 16 of which came at Wilson Stadium.
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 proved to 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.
JOHNSON PLAYER OF THE WEEK - MARCH 6
Brent Johnson was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week on March 6.
Johnson helped lead the Rebels to a 3-1 record and a berth in the championship game of the Clash of the Conferences Tournament in Lancaster, Calif. He hit .471 with a .705 slugging percentage. He did not strike out once in 17 at-bats and played four complete games without an error. He finished the weekend with two stolen bases and earned a place on the Clash of the Conferences All Tournament Team.
