April 23, 2003
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UNLV PROBABLE PITCHERS
Thursday: Matt Luca RHP
Friday: Robbie Van LHP
Saturday: Jake Vose LHP
BYU PROBABLE PITCHERS
Thursday: Jeff Mouser RHP
Friday: Paul Jacinto RHP
Saturday: Ken Gravley LHP
UNLV REBELS
UNLV (32-12, 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 .372 (68-for-183) with six home runs and 13 doubles. Fernando Valenzuela leads the team with 46 RBI and is hitting .331 (53-for-160).
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 378-277 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 31.
BYU COUGARS
BYU is 19-17 overall, 11-7 in Mountain West Conference play. The Cougars swept the Rebels in three games last year in Las Vegas.
The Cougars have won six of their last seven games, which includes a three-game sweep over Air Force and two-of-three against New Mexico.
SERIES VS. BYU
The all-time series tied up at 50 games apiece following a 2-1 road series win for the Rebels earlier this year. UNLV took the opening (6-5) and closing games (19-9) of the series, but dropped the Friday game 3-1.
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 lost his 11-game hitting streak on Tuesday against UC Riverside. The longest streak on the team is now held by Peter White at five 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.
Junior Patrick Dobson is the son of actor Kevin Dobson. Kevin had a five-year run on Kojak, playing Telly Savalas' assistant Detective Bobby Crocker.
In 1982, Dobson launched his longest series-TV stint in the role of attorney M. Patrick McKenzie on the prime-time serial Knots Landing.
REBEL BASEBALL, IT'S A HIT!
UC Riverside pitchers hit Andrew D'Angelo twice on Tuesday, upping UNLV's season total to 85 hit batters. The total hit batsmen committed by UNLV and its opponents this season is 139.
D'Angelo has been hit a conference-high 18 times this season and now shares the single season school record with John Cruz (2000).
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
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.
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.
