May 1, 2008
UNLV Baseball Media Notes 
IN THE BATTER'S BOX: UNLV (19-25, 8-10 MWC) ends a nine-game road trip and a five-game stay in California with a three-game series at Cal Poly (19-23, 6-9 Big West) that gets underway on Friday at 6:00 p.m. (PDT) at Baggett Stadium. Saturday's game is also slated to start at 6:00 p.m. while the finale of the series is set to start at 1:00 p.m. The three-game set marks just the second time that the Rebels have played the Mustangs, which swept UNLV last year in a three-game series in Las Vegas. This weekend's series wraps up the Rebels' longest road trip of the season, which started on April 22 and has spanned the past two weeks. UNLV started this week in Northridge, dropping a pair of games to Cal State Northridge by scores of 2-1 and 5-3. In the opener against the Matadors, the Rebels tied the game in the seventh inning but allowed a run in the bottom of the seventh. Then in the finale, UNLV rallied to cut a four-run deficit to just one in the the eighth inning, and had runners on the corners, but could not come all the way back in taking the defeat.
THE UNLV REBELS: UNLV is being led at the plate by Xavier Scruggs, who is hitting .425 (74-174) with 16 home runs, 55 RBI and 51 runs scored ... For the second time this season Scruggs slugged three home runs in a game, drilling a trio against San Diego State on April 19, as he went 3-for-6 with 8 RBI ... He first did it against Maine on March 1, as he went 5-for-5 with 7 RBI ... He was recently named the MWC Player of the Week on April 21, the third time this season that he has won the award (3/3 & 4/7) ... Braden Walker is hitting .340 (49-144) and the Rebels have seven regulars hitting .307 or better and the Rebels are hitting .312 as a team ... On the mound, reliever Adam Moser is 6-4 with a 3.55 ERA and five saves in 25 appearances out of the bullpen ... Friday night starter Corey Hales is 4-2 with a 4.74 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 14 appearances, 11 of them starts ... He also has the team's lone complete game of the year ... This is the fifth year for head coach Buddy Gouldsmith, who currently has a career record of 144-144 (.500), which is the third-most victories in Rebel history.
THE CAL POLY MUSTANGS: Cal Poly enters Friday's game on the heels of upsetting No. 16 Cal by a score of 8-2 on Wednesday ... That win snapped a three-game Mustang losing streak ... Cal Poly is being paced at the plate by Brent Morel, who is hitting .369 (66-179) with six home runs and 48 RBI ... Overall the Mustangs have five regulars hitting .325 or higher and they are hitting .300 as a team ... On the mound the Sunday starter Steven Fischback is 4-3 with a 3.98 ERA anda team-best 55 strikeouts ... Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee is in his sixth year with the Mustangs and he currently has a record of 181-155-2 (.539).
SERIES HISTORY: UNLV trails the short all-time series with Cal Poly by an 0-3 margin, with the first meeting between the two schools coming last year in a three-game series at Earl E. Wilson in Las Vegas. The Rebels dropped all three games to the Mustangs in the series, although everyone was decided by three runs or less. UNLV lost by scores of 9-6, 17-14 and 2-1.
