March 31, 2004

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV Baseball team (17-8, 6-0 MWC) returns to MWC at San Diego State (16-18, 5-1 MWC) play after dropping a midweek contest to No. 12 UC Irvine on Tuesday night. The Rebels are 6-0 in the MWC after seeping both BYU and Air Force.

The Rebels are led by senior center fielder Brent Johnson, who has knocked in 41 RBI and is currently hitting .395 with a 17-game hitting streak. Senior right fielder Eric Nielsen is hitting .390 with 38 RBI and a 16-game hitting streak, while senior second baseman Ryan Ruiz leads the club with a batting average of .413.

On the mound, the Rebels will stay with their usual rotation of Matt Luca, Jake Vose, and David Seccombe. Luca leads the club with 51 strikeouts, Vose boasts a team-best ERA (among starters) of 3.70, and Seccombe was named the Mountain West Conference's pitcher of the week after keeping Air Force scoreless last weekend.

The Aztecs defeated UCLA 5-1 on Tuesday night. Prior to that, San Diego State had swept Utah at home and took two-of-three at New Mexico to improve to 5-1 in the MWC.

The Aztecs are led by Mountain West Conference Player of the Week, freshman catcher Brock Ungricht, who is hitting .336 on the season with 18 RBI. Senior first baseman Riley Embry won the same honor a week earlier, and leads the club with 23 RBI.

On the mound, Scott Shoemaker has allowed only two runs over his last 23 innings, and leads the MWC with 70 strikeouts.

The Rebels will return to Las Vegas on Thursday, April 18 to begin a three game series against BYU. The Rebels will then host Arizona for a two-game series on April 13-14.

Game Notes in PDF Format
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