April 22, 2003
UNLV PROBABLE PITCHER
Tuesday: Giovanni Pupo LHP
UCR PROBABLE PITCHER
Tuesday: Jose Shaw LHP
UNLV REBELS
UNLV (32-11, 15-3 MWC) moved to No. 20 in the latest Baseball America poll after going 4-0 last week. The Rebels were last ranked during the 1996 season when USA Today had them 22nd, Baseball America 23rd and Collegiate Baseball ranked them 28th.
The Rebels took a 9-1 victory over Southern Utah at home on Tuesday and followed with a three-game sweep over Air Force to complete the 6-0 season sweep of the Falcons.
UNLV has won 10 of its last 11 conference games and currently holds a four-game lead in the conference standings.
The Rebels are enjoying their best start in a conference race in school history. The Rebels posted their best finish in conference play in the Big West in 1996 at second place (14-7), just one game out of first.
Brent Johnson moved back to the top of the offensive production list. He is now hitting .363 (65-for-179) with six home runs and 13 doubles. Fernando Valenzuela leads the team with 45 RBI and is hitting .333 (52-for-156).
Offensive production is spread evenly through the team this season, with seven players driving in 30+ runs and seven players hitting .300 or better. UNLV has outscored its opponents 374-265 this season.
As a team, the Rebels have 58 home runs from 11 different players. Patrick Dobson holds the team lead with nine. UNLV has nearly doubled the home run production of its opponents, hitting 58 and giving up only 30.
UC RIVERSIDE
Riverside took two-of-three from Cal State Northridge over the weekend and have won six of their last eight games.
Projected starter Jose Shaw has pitched only 2.2 innings in three appearances this season. He is making first collegiate start.
The Highlanders have nine guys hitting .300 or better. Junior outfielder Ryan Harvey leads the team with a .412 (70-for-170) average.
SERIES VS. UC RIVERSIDE
The all-time series tied up at two games apiece following a 9-4 UC Riverside victory on April 8 of this season.
The Rebels split a pair of contests during the 2001 season, with UNLV winning 9-6 at home and falling 8-2 at Riverside.
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. He was diagnosed with tendonitis and could return this weekend against BYU.
HITTING STREAKS
Patrick Dobsons snapped a 14-game hitting streak on Sunday at Air Force. Eddie GIll now has the longest streak on the team at 11 games.
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!
Air Force pitchers hit two Rebels over the weekend, upping UNLV's season total to 83 hit batters. The total hit batsmen committed by UNLV and its opponents this season is 137.
D'Angelo has been hit a conference-high 16 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.
THE RPI RANKINGS
UNLV leads the MWC at No. 48 in the Boyd's World RPI rankings as of April 20, followed by New Mexico at No. 53. As a conference, the MWC is ranked 14th.
Overall this season, the Mountain West has posted a .500 or better record vs. eight of the top 13 conferences in the RPI rankings (the MWC has not played the SEC, ACC or Atlantic Sun), including a 10-10 mark vs. the Big West, a 4-3 slate vs. Conference USA and a 4-2 record vs. the Sun Belt
