April 10, 2008

UNLV Baseball Media Notes

IN THE BATTER'S BOX

UNLV (14-16, 5-4 MWC) remains in Texas, wrapping up a week-long stay in the Lone Star State with a three-game series at TCU (20-12, 5-4 MWC) that begins on Friday evening at 4:30 p.m. (PT) at Lupton Stadium. The second game of the series is Saturday at 12:00 p.m., and that game will be carried live by The Mtn., with the final game of the set slated for 11:00 a.m., and both those games will be carried live on KSHP 1400 AM as well. It is the second time this season that the Rebels and Horned Frogs have met, as UNLV took two-of-three from TCU earlier this year. UNLV is coming off a split of a two-game series with Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas, this past Tuesday and Wednesday to start the Rebels' road trip. They won the opener 6-5 before losing the series finale 8-6, and it was the first-ever meeting between UNLV and SFA on the baseball diamond.

THE UNLV REBELS

UNLV is being led at the plate by Xavier Scruggs, who is hitting .434 (53-122) with eight home runs, 36 RBI and 31 runs scored ... Scruggs slugged three home runs against Maine on March 1, as he went 5-for-5 with 7 RBI ... He was recently named the Co-MWC Player of the Week, the third time this season that he has won the award (3/3 & 4/7) ... Jesse Wight is hitting .378 (34-90) and the Rebels have eight regulars hitting .319 or better ... On the mound, reliever Adam Moser is 4-2 with a 2.03 ERA and four saves in 17 appearances out of the bullpen ... Corey Hales is 4-1 with a 3.14 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 11 appearances, eight of them starts ... The Rebels opened their season with eight-straight games at home, part of a string of 12 in 14 games that was played at Earl E. Wilson Stadium to begin the year ... This is the fifth year for head coach Buddy Gouldsmith, who currently has a career record of 139-135 (.507), which is the third-most victories in Rebel history.

THE TCU HORNED FROGS

TCU, the two-time defending MWC regular season and tournament champions, has won six in a row following a 4-3 win at Baylor this past Tuesday night ... The last time that TCU lost was a 7-6 defeat at UNLV on March 30 ... The Horned Frogs' top hitter is Clint Arnold, who is hitting .353 (41-116) with eight doubles and eight RBI ... On the mound is where TCU's strength lies, as the club sports a 3.31 team ERA and is led by Tyler Lockwood, who is 3-0 with a 1.14 ERA in a team-high 47.1 innings of work ... TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle, who spent two years as the head coach of UNLV before moving to TCU, is in his fifth year with the Horned Frogs and he has record of 187-85 and overall he has a career record of 264-142 in seven-plus years of coaching.

SERIES HISTORY

UNLV trails the all-time series with TCU by an overall mark of 12-16 (.429) although the Rebels actually owned a 10-8 advantage before the Horned Frogs joined the MWC in 2005-06. This season the Rebels took the last two games of their series with the Horned Frogs in Las Vegas, marking the first time that UNLV beat TCU in MWC play. Before a 7-6 victory on March 29, UNLV had lost nine-straight games to TCU since it joined the league.