May 20, 2006

LAS VEGAS - UNLV baseball begins its quest for a fourth-straight Mountain West Conference Tournament title as the fourth seed and the Rebels will play New Mexico at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23 at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.

The Rebels enter the tournament with a 27-28 record, 12-10 in MWC play and finished the regular season on a roll, winning their last eight games, including a three-game sweep of the Lobos two weekends ago at home. UNM finished the regular season with a 28-27 mark, 10-12 in league play.

League-newcomer TCU earned the top seed, winning the regular season conference title with a 17-5 mark with a 35-21 record overall on the year. The Horned Frogs earned a first-round bye will play the winner of the UNLV-New Mexico game on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. (PDT).

In other opening-round action third-seeded San Diego State (22-34, 14-8 MWC) plays sixth-seeded Utah (27-26, 9-13 MWC) in the first game of the tournament at 11:00 a.m. and then second-seeded BYU (30-26, 14-8 MWC) plays seventh-seeded Air Force (10-36, 1-21 MWC) at 3:00 p.m.

The 2006 Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship will be played May 23-27 at Earl E. Wilson Stadium on the campus of UNLV. Fans who will be attending the tournament can either buy single game tickets or an all-session pass good for every game of the tournament. Prices for single games are $10 for adults and $8 for youth/seniors. All-session passes are $60 for adults and $35 for youth/seniors. Fans can purchase tickets before the tournament by logging onto www.unlvtickets.com or by calling (702) 739-FANS.