Oct. 30, 2013
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV baseball continues its fall season this week at Earl E. Wilson Stadium with its annual Halloween game on Thursday and the first game of the Scarlet/Gray World Series on Friday. Teams were picked earlier this week and the captains for the two squads will be seniors Matt McCallister (Scarlet) and Patrick Armstrong (Gray).
"We are coming into our last few practices of fall camp," head coach Tim Chambers said. "It's been a great camp and I'm really proud of our guys. We are going to have a little fun this week and then play the first game of our Scarlet and Gray World Series. It is a great way to end the fall season."
The Rebels will hold their annual Halloween costume game (with a variation of rules) on Thursday, with first pitch slated for 9:30 a.m. Once again the players will all dress up in costume and play a game, but a new concept for this year is that the winning team will be awarded one run in the first game of the Scarlet/Gray World Series.
"It's going to be a fun event," McCallister said. "It's important to win though, because you will already have an advantage starting the first game of the Scarlet/Gray Series."
"It is a fun day for everyone to go out, run around and be goofy," Pat Armstrong said. "But the difference from last year is that the winner will get a run in our Scarlet/Gray Series and we want to have that advantage and the momentum going into the series."
Friday will be the first game of the Scarlet/Gray World Series and the Scarlet team will serve as the home team. John Richy will start for the Scarlet team, while Kenny Oakley will get the nod for the Gray team. First pitch between the two teams will be at 8:30 a.m. on Friday.
Joining McCallister and Richy on the Scarlet team will be Morgan Stotts, Matt Gover, Coltin Motley, T.J. White, Craig Shul, Scott Tomassetti, Cody Howard, Joey Swanner, Johnathan Torres, Mike Maiello, Bryan Bonnell, Andrew Encinas, Nicolas Libonati and Cody Roper. Zack Hartman and Zach Story-Baker will serve as assistant coaches.
"The Scarlet and Gray series brings a lot of excitement to everybody, especially since it's at the end of the fall and everyone wants to go out on a good note," McCallister said. "I think we will have a really strong lineup from top to bottom and everyone's excited to play the three-game series."
Joining Pat Armstrong and Oakley on the Gray team be Connor Clark, Justin Jones, Parker Hokuf, AJ Hernandez, Erik VanMeetren, Kameron Van Winkle, Joey Armstrong, Dylan Ellis, Edgar Montes, John Morey, Brayden Torres, Matt Thomas, Brennen Flaherty, Andrew Astone and Joey Lauria. Erick Fedde and Zach Cordova will serve as assistant coaches.
"I am really confident in our team's ability to go out and win all three games," Pat Armstrong said. "We have a really strong lineup and everyone has had a great fall. We are going out there to have fun, but it's going to be competitive and we want to win. It's our last few practices of the fall and everyone wants to go out strong."
The Rebels will wrap up the week with a light practice on Saturday. The Scarlet/Gray World Series will continue next week with games 2 and 3 to be played on November 8-9.
