April 13, 2006

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IN THE BATTER'S BOX

UNLV will play its first MWC road series this weekend, traveling to Texas to play league-newcomer TCU in a three-game set. The first game is scheduled for Friday at 5:00 p.m. (PDT), Saturday's game is at 12:00 p.m. and Sunday's tilt is slated for 11:00 a.m. It is an important series, as the Rebels trail the first-place Horned Frogs by three games in the MWC standings. All three games of the series will be broadcast live on KSHP 1400 AM.

UNLV REBELS(16-19, 3-4 Mountain West Conference)Head Coach: Buddy Gouldsmith(88-72, 3rd year; Overall, same)

The Rebels: UNLV enters Friday's game against TCU with a 16-19 record, 3-4 in the MWC after the Rebels dropped two of three at home to BYU last weekend. Keith Smith leads the Rebel regulars in batting average with a .349 clip (38-109) and his 35 RBI are second on the team. Chad Miller and Smith pace the team with seven home runs and Chris Bonnell's 36 RBI leads the team. Chris Saddoris (5-4) leads the Rebel staff with nine starts and 56.1 innings of work from the mound. Jabe Beard has made 16 appearances out of the Rebel bullpen and has recorded four saves, both tops on the staff. Kevin Skogley paces the Rebels with 34 strikeouts and 10 different UNLV pitchers have recorded at least one win this season.

TCU HORNED FROGS(19-16, 6-1 Mountain West Conference)Head Coach: Jim Schlossnagle(99-63, 3rd year; Overall, 176-112, 5th year)

The Horned Frogs: TCU enters this weekend's series sitting atop the MWC standings after two weeks of play after the Horned Frogs swept Air Force at home. Chad Huffman leads the TCU offense, hitting .390 (41-105) with five home runs and 24 RBI. In all the Horned Frogs have five different players with 21 or more RBI on the year, lead by Andrew Walker and Keith Conlon, who each have 27. On the mound Jake Arrieta is the head of the staff, posting a 7-3 record with a 2.51 ERA in nine starts. He has struck out 68 batters in 57.1 innings of work. Sam Demel is 4-2 with a 2.31 ERA in eight starts and Omar Arif has two saves in 19 appearances out of the bullpen.

THE SERIES

UNLV leads the all-time series with TCU 10-7 (.588) and the Rebels swept the Horned Frogs the last time the two teams played each other. That meeting was in 1999, and UNLV won by scores of 9-6, 6-2 and 12-6.

LAST TIME OUT

UNLV baseball scored a ton of runs last weekend but only got one win in its three-game series with BYU at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. The Rebels plated 31 runs over the weekend and hit 10 home runs, two each by CJ Lang and Keith Smith. In the opener this past Thursday, the Rebels scored five first-inning runs, but that was all they got in a 9-5 defeat. In the second game, a seven-run fifth inning undid UNLV in its 14-8 loss. Six of those runs were unearned. In the series closer UNLV scored two or more runs in each of the first four innings and the Rebels beat BYU 18-8 on Saturday afternoon.