Feb. 6, 2003
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UNLV PROBABLE PITCHERS
Friday: Robbie Van LHP
Saturday: Jake Vose LHP
Sunday: David Seccombe RHP
CHARLESTON PROBABLE PITCHERS
Friday: TBA
Saturday: TBA
Sunday: TBA
UNLV REBELS
UNLV sits atop the MWC standings after a 2-1 series victory at California. It marks the first time that UNLV has won a road series with a Pac-10 school since the 1993 season-ending series with Stanford, which they won 2-1.
Brent Johnson put together a good season-opening series. He went 6-for-12 with three doubles and .750 slugging percentage.
David Seccombe pitched the Rebels to a 10-4 game and series victory on Sunday. He threw 5.0 innings of two-hit ball with eight strikeouts for a 1.80 ERA.
Five Rebels left Berkely with a 0.00 ERA (Robbie Van, James Thompson, Jason Guerra, Ryan Braun and James Wickman). Van threw 5.0 innings of two-hit ball in the season opener.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON
The College of Charleston open the 2003 season with a three-game series at UNLV. The Cougars are coming off a school-record 36 wins last spring and a runner-up finish in the Southern Conference Tournament. The Cougars were nationallly ranked last season for the first time in school history, cracking the NCBWA Top 35 poll.
SERIES VS. CAL
This will be the first meeting between the two schools.
INJURY UPDATE
None
HITTING STREAKS
Three Rebels, Brent Johnson, Peter White and Stephen Ghutzman, have three-game hitting streaks heading into the home opener with College of Charleston.
BASEBALL AMERICA
Baseball America predicts UNLV will finish second in the Mountain West Conference this season, behind first place BYU.
Other preseason conference honors include Ryan Ruiz, Brent Johnson and Robbie Van on the preseason all-conference list. Van is also picked as the preseason MWC Pitcher of the Year.
Four of the five "top newcomer" picks belong to the Rebels (Ryan Braun, Stephen Ghutzman, Fernando Valenzuela and Patrick Dobson).
EARLY RECOGNITION
Junior RHP Robbie Van was named the No. 18 prospect in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League by Baseball America. League managers and professional scouts voted the list, which included the top 30 players from the summer circuit.
Baseball America began rating the best Cape Cod League prospects in 1990.
Excerpt From Baseball America on Robbie Van: As a lefthanded reliever, Van could be on an express route to the majors. He opened the summer on Yarmouth-Dennis as a fill-in player, and when the Red Sox ran out of roster spots he joined Orleans. Van throws a low-90s fastball and had the consensus best slider on the Cape.
PICKED THIRD BY THE CONFERENCE
For the fourth straight year, San Diego State has been picked to win the Mountain West Conference regular season baseball championship. In a vote of the six MWC head coaches, the Aztecs received five-of-six first-place votes, while New Mexico received one.
The Aztecs collected 25 points to capture the top spot in the poll. BYU earned 19 points to place second in the poll, followed by UNLV (17 points), Utah (12 points), New Mexico (11 points) and Air Force (six points).
After placing fifth in the MWC race three straight years, UNLV was picked third in this year's poll. The Rebels were 30-30 (13-17 MWC) overall last year under first-year head coach Jim Schlossnagle.
SCHLOSSNAGLE RADIO SHOW
UNLV baseball fans will have the opportunity to hear from head coach Jim Schlossnagle each Monday on the "Jim Schlossnagle Radio Show".
The half-hour radio show, featuring the Rebels' second-year head coach, will air each Monday at 6 p.m. on KSHP 1400AM. The weekly radio show will originate every Monday during the course of the regular season from Glory Days Grill at 10075 S. Eastern Avenue in Henderson.
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 Albuquerque, New Mexico May 21-24, will receive the automatic bid.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The 2003 Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship will be hosted by New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M.. All six Mountain West Conference teams will compete in the double-elimination tournament May 21-24. 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 New Mexico Baseball Contact Ron Gonzales prior to the event.
