April 2, 2008
UNLV Baseball Media Notes 
IN THE BATTER'S BOX
UNLV (12-13, 4-2 MWC) returns home after a brief one-game road trip to host BYU (12-15, 3-3 MWC) in a three-game series at Earl E. Wilson Stadium that gets underway on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. (PDT). The first game of the series will be carried live by KSHP 1400 AM, as will Saturday's series finale, which is slated to start at 2:00 p.m. Those two radio broadcasts are sandwiched around a 6:30 p.m. start on Friday evening , and it is a key Mountain West Conference series for both teams. The Rebels are coming off a 23-1 defeat against Nevada, Reno this past Tuesday, although before that UNLV earned a pair of walk-off wins over TCU the previous weekend at home. After UNLV dropped the series opener 6-2 on March 28, it won the next two games by identical 7-6 scores, and both wins came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Jarred Frierson hit a walk-off solo home run on Saturday to propel UNLV to the win and it was the first home run of his career. Then in the series finale, the Rebels scored the game-winning run on an error for another 7-6 victory.
THE UNLV REBELS
UNLV is being led at the plate by Xavier Scruggs, who is hitting .434 (43-99) with six home runs, 25 RBI and 25 runs scored ... Scruggs slugged three home runs against Maine on March 1, as he went 5-for-5 with 7 RBI ... Steve Rinaudo is hitting .375 (27-72) and the Rebels have six regulars hitting .313 or better ... On the mound, reliever Adam Moser is 4-1 with a 1.21 ERA and two saves in 14 appearances out of the bullpen ... Corey Hales is 4-1 with a 2.55 ERA and 25 strikeouts in nine 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 137-132 (.509), which is the third-most victories in Rebel history.
THE BYU COUGARS
BYU comes into the series looking to snap a five-game losing streak ... The Cougars will make a stop off at Cedar City, Utah, on Wednesday for a game with Southern Utah before continuing their trip down to Las Vegas ... Sean McNaughton is the Cougars' top hitter with a .333 (41-123) average with five home runs and 21 RBI ... Overall the Cougars have six regulars hitting .300 or better on the year ... Friday starter Jordan Muir, a Las Vegas native, is 2-2 with a 4.89 ERA in six starts, striking out 31 batters in 38.2 innings of work ... Blake Torgerson has a pair of saves and is 3-2 with a 4.84 ERA in 11 appearances out of the BYU bullpen ... This is the ninth year for head coach Vance Law, who currently has a career record of 277-218-2 heading into Wednesday's game at SUU.
SERIES HISTORY
UNLV trails the all-time series with BYU by a close margin of 63-66 (.496) and the two teams met seven times last season. The Rebels won the first meeting last year, but then the Cougars won the next six, including a 10-9 victory in the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.
