March 27, 2003
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UNLV PROBABLE PITCHERS
Friday: Matt Luca RHP
Saturday: Robbie Van LHP
Sunday: Jake Vose LHP
SAN DIEGO STATE PROBABLE PITCHERS
Friday: Mike Moat RHP
Saturday: Joe Carque RHP
Sunday: Ben Coon LHP
UNLV REBELS
The Rebels took two of three games at BYU over the weekend and picked up a win over UC Irvine on Tuesday. UNLV enters the weekend with a 20-8 overall record and is 5-1 in the Mountain West Conference.
Sophomore outfielder Eric Nielsen continues to lead the team with a .405 (32-for-79) average.
Offensive production is spread evenly through the team this season, with six players driving in 20+ runs and eight players hitting .300 or better.
As a team, the Rebels have 46 home runs this season from 11 different players. Ryan Ruiz and Robert VanKirk share the team lead with seven home runs apiece.
UNLV has put together a 14-2 home record this season. The Rebels have won 11 straight home games since dropping two games to Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 14 and 15.
SAN DIEGO STATE AZTECS
Both the Rebels and the Aztecs are 5-1 in league play heading into the weekend.
San Diego State is coming off a three-game sweep over Air Force last weekend, outscoring the Falcons 47-9 in the three contests combined.
Tony Gwynn was hired as San Diego State's head baseball coach on September 20, 2001. Last year, he served as a volunteer coach for th Aztecs under Jim Dietz, who retired at the end of the 2002 season.
Outfielder Anthony Gwynn has an eight-game hitting streak heading into the weeknd and has hit safely in 11 of the last 12 games.
SERIES VS. SAN DIEGO STATE
San Diego State holds a 38-19 advantage in the series. The Aztecs took five of the six meetings last season and won two of three in Las Vegas.
INJURY UPDATE
David Seccombe left the March 8 game against Memphis in the second inning with a strain in his throwing elbow and did not play the following weekend against Air Force.
HITTING STREAKS
Peter White has the longest hitting streak on the team at seven games. Eric Nielsen, Ryan Ruiz and Robert Vankirk have two-game hitting streaks.
YES, HE IS
Rebel junior Fernando Valenzuela is the son of former major league pitcher Fernando Valenzuela.
Fernando Valenzuela Sr. began his professional career on September 15, 1980, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and played 17 years for six different teams.
REBEL BASEBALL, IT'S A HIT!
UC Irvine pitchers hit two Rebel batters on Tuesday, upping UNLV's season total to 61 hit batters. The total hit batsmen committed by UNLV and its opponents this season is 97.
Andrew D'Angelo has been hit a conference-high 14 times this season.
Villanova pitcher James Russell set an NCAA record for hit batsmen in an inning during the Feb. 22 game. He hit five batters in 0.1 innings of work.
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 were polled for 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.
BASEBALL AMERICA
Baseball America predicted UNLV will finish second in the Mountain West Conference this season, behind first place San Diego State.
Other preseason conference honors included Ryan Ruiz, Brent Johnson and Robbie Van on the preseason all-conference list. Van was also picked as the preseason MWC Pitcher of the Year.
Four of the five "top newcomer" picks belonged to the Rebels (Ryan Braun, Stephen Ghutzman, Fernando Valenzuela and Patrick Dobson).
FAB 50
Joe Wickman and Robbie Van were listed in the Baseball America Top 50 College Prospects by Class.
Wickman was listed at the No. 38 Sophomore and Van was listed as the No. 45 junior.
Wickman and Van were also listed as the fourth and fifth top prospects in the Mountain West Conference. Patrick Dobson rounded out the list as the No. 10 prospect in the conference.
PICKED THIRD BY THE CONFERENCE
For the fourth straight year, San Diego State was 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.
TOP OF THE CONFERENCE
UNLV leads the Mountain West Conference in the following categories (March 12):TEAMWins 20Hit By Pitch 61Sac Flies 18Batters Struck out 236Batters Struck out Looking By 74Saves 7Runners Picked Off By 8Wild Pitches 33Fielding Percentage .967Caught Stealing By 17INDIVIDUALHit By Pitch (D'Angelo) 14Games Finished Pitching (Braun) 9Wild Pitches (Vose) 10Steal Attempts Against (VanKirk) 23
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 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, N.M. 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.
