Jan. 25, 2006
LAS VEGAS - UNLV baseball, the three-time defending Mountain West Conference Tournament champions, was picked to finish second in the conference's preseason poll in a vote of the league's seven head coaches and a panel of select media on Wednesday.
The Rebels, who received one first-place vote, actually finished tied with San Diego State for second place with 66 points. MWC newcomer TCU was picked to win the league, garnering 89 points, including 11 of a possible 13 first-place votes. BYU garnered the other first-place vote and tallied 64 points for a fourth-place standing in the poll, while New Mexico (36 points) was fifth, Utah (28 points) sixth and Air Force (15 points) seventh.
UNLV senior outfielder Ryan Bird represented the Rebels on the preseason All-MWC squad and he is one of 16 letterwinners that return for head coach Buddy Gouldsmith, the 2005 MWC Coach of the Year. San Diego State had four players on the preseason squad while BYU, New Mexico and Utah each had two.
The Rebels open their 2006 season on the road with a three-game series against Pepperdine on Feb. 3 in Malibu, Calif. UNLV's home opener is on Feb. 24 against Eastern Michigan at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.
PRESEASON TEAM POLLRk. Team (1st place votes) Points1. TCU (11) 892. UNLV (1) 66 San Diego State 664. BYU (1) 645. New Mexico 366. Utah 287. Air Force 15
PRESEASON ALL-MWC TEAMPos. Name, Class InstitutionC Jordan Swaydan, Sr. San Diego State1B Ben Saylor, Sr. BYU2B Jordan Pacheco, So. New Mexico3B Jay Brossman, Jr. UtahSS Lance Zawadski, Jr. San Diego StateOF Quintin Berry, Jr. San Diego StateOF Ryan Bird, Sr. UNLVOF Jeff Hiestand, Sr. BYURHP Bruce Billings, Jr. San Diego StateRHP Josh Cooper, Sr. UtahUT/DH Chris Carlson, Jr. New Mexico
