Sept. 27, 2005
LAS VEGAS - UNLV baseball will face one of its most challenging schedules in the program's history as six teams from last year's NCAA Tournament are on the Rebels' 2006 docket, the athletics department announced Tuesday.
Highlighting the schedule is a three game series at Earl E. Wilson Stadium against Texas, the defending College World Series champions. The other teams that the Rebels will play that advanced to last year's NCAA Tournament include Pepperdine, Cal State Fullerton, LSU, TCU and Arizona.
UNLV has won the last three Mountain West Conference championships and has advanced to the NCAA Tournament the past three years.
The Rebels open their season on Friday, Feb. 3, with a three-game series on the road against Pepperdine and that begins of stretch of nine-consecutive road games. During that stretch the Rebels will play at Cal State Fullerton from Feb. 10-12 and at in-state rival Nevada, Reno on Feb. 17-18.
UNLV's first home game is Feb. 24 against LSU, which begins a stretch in which the Rebels will play 14 home games and two road games in a span of 24 days. UNLV will play LSU, Texas, Texas Tech, Cal and the Citadel at home while also playing single road games against UC Irvine and UCLA.
Other non-conference games include a home and away series with UC Riverside, another game at UC Irvine on May 2 and a three-game series at Arizona on May 5-7.
"Our schedule is indicative of our desire to be one of the elite college baseball programs in the country," Gouldsmith said. "I am excited for our players, as well as our fans, as we prepare to win our fourth-consecutive Mountain West Conference Championship."
After a three-game series on the road against the San Diego on March 24-26, the Rebels open Mountain West Conference play with a preseason league tournament held in San Diego, Calif., from March 28 through April 2. Each team in the MWC, including newcomer TCU, will play four games against teams in the conference. The Rebels will play BYU on March 28, TCU on March 30, San Diego State on March 31 and Air Force on April 2.
UNLV's first series against MWC opponents is April 6-8 at home against BYU, the team the Rebels beat for the 2005 MWC championship. UNLV then travels to Fort Worth, Texas, to play TCU on April 14-16. The Horned Frogs are coached by former UNLV head coach Jim Schlossnagle.
The Rebels then return home to play the San Diego State on April 21-23 before heading to Salt Lake City to play Utah on April 28-30. The Rebels close out their regular season home schedule against New Mexico from May 12-14 and wrap up the regular season on the road against Air Force on May 18-20.
This year's MWC Tournament will he held at Earl E. Wilson Field and is set for May 22-27. The last time the tournament was in Las Vegas was in 2004, when the Rebels won their second of three-consecutive MWC titles.
"The strength of our schedule will undoubtedly provide us the opportunity to be battle tested prior to conference play," Gouldsmith said. "That will put us closer to our ultimate goal of finishing the 2006 season in Omaha (site of the College World Series).
View the complete 2006 UNLV baseball schedule by clicking here.
