Jan. 27, 2006

LAS VEGAS - Six former Rebels currently on minor league affiliates of Major League Baseball teams are slated to play in Saturday's annual Alumni Game, to be held at Earl E. Wilson Stadium with the first pitch at 1:35 p.m. (PT).

Fernando Valenzuela Jr. (San Diego Padres), Brent Johnson (Seattle Mariners), Ryan Ruiz (Oakland A's), Derek Rodriguez (Chicago White Sox), Eric Nielsen (Toronto Blue Jays) and Kyle Tabeek (Boston Red Sox) are all returning for the game. Other former Rebels who will be playing in the game include Steven Goldberg, Jake Vose, Ben Scheinbaum, Shane Clatterbuck, J.C. Sibley, Robbie Van Kirk and Mike Hubbell, who is the head baseball coach at Cimarron-Memorial High School in Las Vegas.

At 11:30 a.m. there will be a Home Run Derby among the alumni and it will be between players from each decade. Each contestant will get six swings to send as many balls as possible over the fence and a champion will be announced for each decade. From there each squad will take batting practice and infield and at 1:25 the alumni will be introduced to the crowd.

UNLV has won three-straight games against the Alumni Squad, including last year's 10-2 victory.

Taking the mound for the current Rebels will be right hander Matt Wagner, who earned Mountain West Conference Tournament MVP honors last season as he helped UNLV to its third-straight league championship. It will be the final tune up for the Rebels before they open the season on Feb. 3 against Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif.