April 12, 2004
LAS VEGAS - The UNLV baseball team (22-11, 9-3 MWC) will take a break from Mountain West Conference play as it will host the Arizona Wildcats (16-14-1, 5-4 Pac-10) for two midweek games. UNLV is coming off of a weekend where it dropped the series opener to BYU but then rallied to defeat the Cougars 13-5 and 11-5 in the final two games. Tuesday's game will be at 6:30 p.m. while Wednesday's game has been changed to 3:00 p.m. to accommodate Arizona's travel schedule.
The Rebels got some unexpected production last weekend as both first baseman Eddie Gill and catcher C.J. Ebarb had a breakout series against the Cougars. Offensive stalwart Peter White leads the club with a .405 batting average and 6 home runs while center fielder Brent Johnson leads the team in run production, with 46 RBI. Johnson also set some history as he became the all-time hit leader in UNLV history last weekend. Johnson currently has 299 hits in his career, breaking the old record of 295 which was held by Steve Moser who played at UNLV between 1983-1986.
On the mound, the Rebels will start sophomore righhander Matt Wagner on Tuesday and junior righthander Matt Minor on Wednesday. Wagner, who has started two games this season, is 2-1 on the year with an ERA of 6.43 in his 28.0 innings on the mound. Minor, who will be starting for the first time, is 3-1 and has an ERA of 4.21 with 26 strikeouts in 25.2 innings pitched.
The Wildcats will come to Las Vegas after making a stop in Tempe on Monday to face Pac-10 rival Arizona State. Junior Catcher Richard Mercado leads the wildcats with a .413 batting average with 7 RBI and 2 home runs this season. Freshman shortstop Jason Donald leads the club in run production, as he has 27 RBI and 7 home runs on the season.
The Wildcats will start a pair of righthanders in the series, as junior Kolby Kolberg (4-2, 3.62 ERA, 61 K) will throw on Tuesday and sophomore Kevin Guyette (4-4, 5.31 ERA, 26 K) will start on Wednesday.
The Rebels will resume Mountain West Conference play as they will head to Salt Lake City for a three-game series on April 16-18 against Utah.
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