April 3, 2014
UNLV vs. Fresno State Notes
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV baseball (20-8/9-3 Mountain West), which is ranked No. 19 by Perfect Game and No. 25 by Baseball America, will resume Mountain West play by traveling to Fresno State (16-13/6-6 MW). The Rebels are coming off a 3-1 road trip to Nebraska, where they took the series over the Huskers by beating them 5-2 on Friday and 5-4 on Saturday, but could not complete the sweep by falling 5-3 on Sunday. UNLV also beat Creighton 3-1 on a rare Monday game at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. The Rebels and Bulldogs will play three games, with the first pitch set for 6:35 p.m. PT on both Friday night and Saturday night. The Sunday contest is slated for 1:05 p.m. PT. All three games will be shown live in their entirety on UNLVRebels.com thanks to the Mountain West Network.
SCOUTING THE REBELS
UNLV baseball (20-8/9-3 Mountain West), which is ranked No. 19 by Perfect Game and No. 25 by Baseball America, will continue its longest road stretch of the season by resuming Mountain Wet play with a three-game at Fresno State. After playing the Bulldogs, UNLV will travel for two midweek games at Arkansas. The Rebels are most recently coming off of a series victory at Nebraska. UNLV thawed out the Huskers on Friday night, en route to a 5-2 win. On Saturday, the Rebels outlasted Nebraska and won 5-4. However, UNLV could not complete the sweep at Haymarket Park, and fell 5-3 on Sunday. The Rebels then traveled down the road and faced Creighton in a rare Monday contest at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, where the College World Series is held. UNLV defeated the Bluejays 3-1 in a game that saw sustained 35 miles per hour winds and a temperature drop of nearly 30 degrees from first pitch to the end of the game. From the mound, Erick Fedde (5-1, 1.98 ERA) leads the Rebels and the Mountain West with 50 strikeouts in 50.0 innings of work. Kenny Oakley (2-2, 1.37 ERA) is second with 49 strikeouts in 46.0 innings pitched. Saturday starter John Richy (5-1, 2.88 ERA) is third with 37 strikeouts. Sunday starter Bryan Bonnell (3-2, 1.88 ERA) has struck out 22 batters this season, but what is more impressive is that he has surrendered only two walks in a team-high 52.2 innings of work. Brayden Torres (1-1, 1.77 ERA) leads the team with six saves and has struck out 23 batters in 20.1 innings of work. From the plate the Rebels are led by T.J. White, who is batting .327 and has scored a team-high 25 runs. He also leads the team on the base paths with seven steals. Patrick Armstrong leads the team with 23 RBI. Justin Jones (.321), Erik VanMeetren (.319), Joey Swanner (.312), Edgar Montes (.307) and Morgan Stotts (.305) are all hitting over the .300 mark for the Rebels this season.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Fresno State (16-13/6-6 Mountain West) enters the weekend series having won only one of its last seven games. The Bulldogs lone victory in that stint came at San Diego State (March 29). They opened the season 9-2 with a three-game sweep over No. 18 Texas A&M. After the sweep over the Aggies, Fresno State was briefly ranked in a couple polls including being ranked No. 24 by Baseball America and No. 25 by Collegiate Baseball News. Since being ranked, they have gone 3-7. Leading the Bulldogs this season is Jordan Luplow, who is hitting .349 and has started every game this season. He leads the team with five home runs and is tied for a team-high 22 RBI with Taylor Ward. Ward is hitting .330 and has four home runs to his credit. Chirs Mariscal (.330) and Trent Woodward (.327) are the only other Bulldogs hitting over the .300 mark. From the mound, Fresno State is led by Jordan Brink (2-1), who owns a 1.67 ERA and has struck out a team-high 34 batters. Saturday's starter Tim Borst (1-1) has a 3.49 ERA and has struck out 33 and Sunday's starter Jimmy Lambert (1-3) owns a 3.76 ERA and has struck out 15. Garret Mundell leads the way out of the bullpen and has just allowed one earned run in 22.0 innings of work, while striking out 22.
UNLV-FRESNO STATE HISTORY
Before last season, UNLV and Fresno State had not met since 1999. The Rebels took 4-of-6 from the Bulldogs in 2013, losing both on Sunday twice, once in Fresno, Calif. and once in Las Vegas. Overall, Fresno State leads the series 38-28 and has a 19-8 advantage at home, but UNLV has won eight of the last 11 meetings.
ON DECK
The Rebels will wrap up their season long nine-game road stretch by playing two midweek games at Arkansas on April 8-9. After the Rebels face the Razorbacks, they will return home to host San Jose State on April 11-13.
