March 7, 2002
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Friday vs. St. John's: Jared Bonnell RHP
Friday vs. Arizona State: Giovanni Pupo LHP
Saturday vs. Oklahoma State: David Seccombe RHP
UNLV REBELS
UNLV took three of four games at the Clash of the Conferences Tournament in Lancaster, Calif., last weekend to move to 9-8 on the season. The Rebels picked up games over George Washington, Purdue and Cal State Northridge before falling in a championship game rematch with Northridge.
Four Rebels found a place on the all-tournament team. Eric Nielsen, Tony Schuler, Brent Johnson and David Trujillo were named to the 15-member team.
Following the Bob Schaefer Memorial Tournament, the Rebels have only one day to prepare for the start of the conference season. UNLV will host BYU on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
ARIZONA STATE
The 15th ranked Sun Devils have won four of their last five games and enter the tournament with a 12-5 record. A 15th ranking makes Arizona State the highest ranked team the Rebels have played on the season thus far. UNLV played Cal State Fullerton after they dropped a pair of contests to Stanford and held a 16th ranking.
Arizona State holds a 52-13-1 advantage in the overall series against UNLV. The two teams have not played since the 1997, when the Sun Devils took a pair of contests, 6-5 and 7-2.
ST. JOHN'S
St. John's enters the tournament with a 1-5 record and has not played a game since Feb. 24. The Red Storm dropped three straight at the UNC-Wilmington Tournament, losing to George Mason (9-2), UNC-Wilmington (5-4) and Northern Iowa (6-4). The team's lone win came in a 3-1 victory over Coastal Carolina on Feb. 18.
UNLV and St. John's have never played each other in any sport prior to Friday's baseball game.
OKLAHOMA STATE
Oklahoma State opened the season with five straight wins, and has since moved to 8-2 on the season after dropping two games at the Shreveport College Classic. The Cowboys fell to Northridge (9-4) and San Diego (13-9) before picking up a game against Delaware (6-4).
Oklahoma State is coming off a two-game pounding of Western Illinois. The Cowboys won 28-4 and 10-4, knocking out seven home runs in the two-game series.
The Cowboys hold a 12-6 advantage in the overall series against the Rebels. The last meeting between the two teams took place in the 1991 Coors Desert Classic. The Rebels dropped a 16-10 opener, but came back for a 4-0 victory in the final game of the tournament.
JOHNSON PLAYER OF THE WEEK
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. 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.
INJURY UPDATE
Reliever Jake Gann is still rehabbing after Tommy John surgery over the summer. The team hopes to have him back for the start of conference play.
HITTING STREAKS
Five Rebels have hitting streaks of four games or more heading into the tournament at Arizona State. Eric Nielsen leads the pack with a nine-game hitting streak, followed by Robert VanKirk with eight.
David Trujillo, who set the Mountain West Conference consecutive-game hitting streak record last season at 29 games, has reached his longest streak of the season with five.
Brent Johnson and Tony Schuler currently have four-game streaks on the line.
The longest hitting-streak of the season belongs to second baseman Garett Shitanishi, who had a 10-game hitting streak until a Feb.24 match-up against UC-Santa Barbara.
SEASON OF THE BALK
Through 17 games this season, the Rebels have already been called for 15 balks. Eleven 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 13 balks on the season, nine of which came at Wilson Stadium.
CONFERENCE NUMBERS
Brent Johnson is tied with SDSU's Anthony Gwynn and BYU's Cameron Goughlan for the top spot in stolen bases this season with three. UNLV is also tied with New Mexico for team stolen bases at five.
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.
