May 19, 2003
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UNLV REBELS
UNLV (41-15, 24-6 MWC) clinched the regular-season Mountain West Conference Championship with a 13-5 victory over New Mexico on May 10. The regular-season title was the first in school history as the Rebels' previous best finish in league play came in the Big West during the 1996 season. That team finished in second place (14-7), just one game out of first.
The Rebels will enter the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed and face Air Force in the opening round. UNLV is 3-6 all-time in MWC Tournaments.
UNLV played one game this season at Isotopes Park, host of the 2003 MWC Championship, taking a 6-5 victory over New Mexico.
The Rebels' 24 conference victories set the MWC record for most league wins in a season. New Mexico won 22 conference games in 2000.
Fernando Valenzuela moved atop the offensive production list. He is now hitting .356 (74-for-208) with 13 home runs and 68 RBI. He also has the team lead in conference play, hitting .383 (44-for-115).
Offensive production is spread evenly through the team this season, with eight players driving in 30+ runs and seven players hitting .300 or better. UNLV has outscored its opponents 488-358 this season.
As a team, the Rebels have 79 home runs from 12 different players. Fernando Valenzuela leads the team with 13. UNLV has nearly doubled the home run production of its opponents, hitting 79 and giving up only 47.
REBEL RANKING
UNLV moved to No. 18 in the latest Baseball America poll after a 2-1 series victory over Utah. They dropped from the No. 15 spot, the highest ranking of the season.
UNLV moved up one spot in the latest Collegiate Baseball News poll to No. 29. The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1957 college baseball season.
The Rebels maintained their post at No. 22 in the Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 College Coaches Poll. The coaches poll is selected by 41 Division I head baseball coaches representing the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA).
The Rebels were last ranked during the 1996 season. UNLV's highest-ever ranking came during the 1981 season when they were ranked No. 12 by Collegiate Baseball Magazine.
AIR FORCE FALCONS
Utah enters the tournament at 15-37 overall, 3-27 in league play.
In the six regular season games between the two teams, UNLV's Brent Johnson, Peter White, Robert VanKirk and Eddie Gill all hitt over .400 and LHP Robbie Van gave up only one unearned run in two appearances.
Air Force's Daniel Petro is hitting .476 against the Rebels, with four doubles and six singles.
SERIES VS. AIR FORCE
UNLV leads the all-time series with Air Force 42-13, including a 6-0 mark this year. The Rebels and Falcons have met only once in MWC tournament play, on May 18, 2000, when Air Force ended UNLV's season with a 13-11 victory.
INJURY UPDATE
Matt Luca left Saturday's game against New Mexico with injury to his throwing arm. He has been diagnosed with tendenitis and his availablility for the tournament has yet to be determined.
HITTING STREAKS
Brent Johnson has the longest active hitting steak on the team at 11 games.
Fernando Valenzuela has the next longest streak at six games, one less than his season long of seven.
PERFECTION
Fernando Valenzuela has yet to make an error at first base this season. In 437 chances (404 putouts & 33 assists), he continues to sport a 1.000 fielding percentage. He has 327 more chances than any other errorless player in the conference.
Valenzuela's numbers - 437 errorless chances and 55 errorless games - are both UNLV records. Bob Hash finished the 1982 season errorless with 67 chances. Hash played in only 35 games, while Tony DeMarco played in 46 games without an error during the 1999 season. He only had 46 chances as an outfielder.
TRIPLE CROWN
By going 2-for-5 in the final game of the regular season, Fernando Valenzuela upped his average to .356, giving him the triple crown. He also leads the team with 13 home runs and 68 RBI.
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.
NEW CAREER DOUBLES LEADER
Junior third baseman Brent Johnson hit a double against Utah on Thursday, giving him 17 on the season and 67 in his three-year career. His total sets the school record for career doubles previously held by Bill Max, who tallied 66 doubles from 1978-81.
REBEL BASEBALL, IT'S A HIT!
Utah pitchers hit 10 Rebels over the weekend, upping UNLV's season total to 105 hit batters. The total hit batsmen committed by UNLV and its opponents this season is 171.
D'Angelo has been hit a conference-high 19 times this season and now holds the single season school record previously held by John Cruz. Cruz was hit 18 times during the 2000 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.
FAB 40
UNLV reached the 40 win plateau for the ninth time in the program's history. The Rebels last reached 40 wins during the 1996 season when they went 43-17 and earned a spot in the 1996 South II Regional in Baton Rouge, LA.
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.
MWC TOURNAMENT MAKES TELEVISION DEBUT
The Mountain West Conference and College Sports Television (www.cstv.com), the first 24-hour college sports network, have reached an agreement to televise live selected games of the 2003 MWC Baseball Championship, to be held May 21-24 at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, N.M.
The television venture for Mountain West baseball is the first in the history of the conference and the first with CSTV. Two second-round conference tournament games will be televised live on CSTV on Thursday, May 22 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. (MST). A recap of that day's 11 a.m. (MST) game, with highlights, will air on CSTV from 2:30-3 p.m. (MST). CSTV is currently available to a national audience via DirecTV on channel 610.
"We are pleased to have this opportunity to showcase the quality of Mountain West Conference baseball to a national audience," said Craig Thompson, MWC Commissioner. "This is also a significant first step in our developing relationship with CSTV."
The Mountain West Conference is in the midst of one of its most successful baseball seasons. MWC leader UNLV is ranked 18th in the latest Baseball America poll, and overall, the league has a 75-64 non-conference record, including victories over seven ranked teams.
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.
