Oct. 13, 2006
LAS VEGAS - UNLV baseball will face six teams that played in the NCAA tournament last season, including the defending national champions, as the athletics department released the 2007 schedule on Friday.
The docket is highlighted by a late April trip to Corvallis, Ore., where head coach Buddy Gouldsmith's squad will play Oregon State in a three-game series against the 2006 College World Series champions on April 20-22. The Beavers become the first team to lose twice at the CWS and still win the title and it marks the third-straight season that the Rebels will face the current national champions. UNLV hosted Cal State Fullerton in 2005 and then took two-of-three games at home against Texas in 2006.
"I am extremely excited about our schedule. Schedules are put together so far in advance that things don't always turn out the way you plan but in this case, we continue to illustrate our desire to be among the elite programs in the country by playing the very best college baseball has to offer," Gouldsmith said. "With the defending national champions on our schedule for the third year in a row, our players as well as our fans can be encouraged by the opportunity to compete for a trip to Omaha. That is the goal of this program and the schedule we play continues to prepare us for that."
UNLV opens the 2007 season on the road with a three-game set against Cal State Northridge on Jan. 26-28, and then they debut at home on Feb. 2 against Pepperdine at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. That is the start of a six-game home stand that also includes Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 9-11, which advanced to the College World Series along with Oregon State. The Titans finished last year ranked fourth in the country in USA Today's final 2006 poll.
Other non-conference home series include Arizona (Feb. 23-25), Cal Poly (March 9-11) and San Diego (March 23-25) while the Rebels will make road trips to Cal (Feb. 16-18), Nevada, Reno (March 2-4), and Texas Tech (March 6-7). UNLV will also host UC Irvine on March 27 and Southern Utah on May 15 in single-game meetings at Earl E. Wilson.
UNLV will start its Mountain West Conference slate at home, hosting BYU in a three-game set on March 15-17, but will then hit the road for its next six league games. The Rebels will travel to Utah on March 30-April 1 and then return to the Bee Hive State for a set with BYU on April 5-7.
The Rebels will then host defending league champion TCU on April 13-15, and it was the Horned Frogs who ended UNLV's string of three consecutive league titles last spring. TCU is also coached by former UNLV head coach Jim Schlossnagle and it will be the first time that he has played the Rebels in Las Vegas since he left the school. The rest of the conference slate includes home series with Utah (April 27-29) and Air Force (May 17-19) with trips to San Diego State (May 4-6) and New Mexico (May 10-12) in between those home games.
Once again the MWC Tournament will be held at Earl E. Wilson Stadium and it will be played May 22-26 with the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
"Mountain West Conference teams continue to upgrade their schedules and as a result, each team will pose an even tougher challenge than in years past," Gouldsmith said. "Our success in this conference means we get the best effort of every league opponent each time out. By hosting the conference tournament for the second straight year, UNLV athletics director Mike Hamrick and our entire administration have provided us the best opportunity to secure another tournament title."
