Jan. 27, 2005

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The UNLV baseball team was picked to finish third in the Mountain West Conference this season in a vote of the six league head coaches and a select media panel. The two-time defending Mountain West Conference Tournament champions received two first-place votes and 61 total points.

San Diego State, last year's regular-season champion, was picked to finish first as the Aztecs received eight of a possible 14 first-place votes and 78 points overall. New Mexico garnered four first-place votes and 64 points to finish second. Rounding out the six-team league was BYU (49), Utah (27) and Air Force (15).

The Rebels also had Zeke Parraz and Matt Luca voted to the 13-player preseason All-MWC team. This is the second preseason honor for Parraz, who will begin the season on the Wallace Award watch list, which is awarded annually to the top player in college baseball. San Diego State placed five players on the preseason team, BYU had three and New Mexico and UNLV each had two.

UNLV opens its 2005 season at home against Cal State Northridge at 6:30 p.m. (PST) at Earl E. Wilson Stadium on Feb. 4.

MWC Preseason PollRk.  Team(1st-place votes)   Points1.  San Diego State (8) 782.  New Mexico (4)      643.  UNLV (2)                 614.  BYU             495.  Utah            276.  Air Force                15

Preseason All-MWC Team
Pos.  Name, Class     SchoolC   A.J. Spitaleri, Jr. New Mexico1B  Daniel Stovall, So. New Mexico2B  Lance Zawadzki, So. San Diego State3B  Brandon Tayler, Jr. BYUSS* Zeke Parraz, Sr.           UNLVSS* James Guerrero, Jr. San Diego StateOF  Jake McLintock, Sr. San Diego StateOF  Ben Saylor, Jr.     BYUOF  Kory Knell, Sr.     BYURHP Matt Luca, Jr.      UNLVRHP*    Jason Fernandez, Sr.    New MexicoRHP*    Bruce Billings, So. San Diego StateUT/DH   Brock Ungricht, So. San Diego State
*notes tie in voting