April 7, 2014

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV baseball (22-9/11-4 Mountain West) moved up in multiple polls after its series victory at Fresno State. The Rebels moved to No. 20 in Baseball America's top 25 poll and to No. 17 in Perfect Game's poll, the publications announced on Monday.

The last time the Rebels were ranked in the top-20 by Baseball America was when its staff released its final poll of the 2003 season, where UNLV also ranked No. 20.

UNLV finished its 3-1 on the week where all of the games were played on the road. Before the Rebels traveled to Fresno, Calif., they opened the week with a 3-1 win over Creighton on Monday.

The Rebels then beat the Bulldogs 6-0 on Friday and 7-0 on Sunday, but fell 2-0 on Saturday.

UNLV also received votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Poll, for the fifth consecutive week, and in the USA TODAY Baseball Top 25 Coaches Poll.

Last year UNLV was ranked No. 21 by Baseball America in week four, following its sweep at No. 9 Stanford. That week it was also ranked No. 25 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 28 by NCBWA and No. 24 by Perfect Game.

Before 2013, the last time the program was ranked was during the regular season was May 28, 2003, when the Rebels were No. 15 by Baseball America, No. 20 by Collegiate Baseball News and No. 20 in the Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll.

UNLV (22-9/11-4) will next travel to face is Southeastern Conference member Arkansas. The Rebels and Razorbacks will play a two-game midweek series on Tuesday and Wednesday before UNLV returns to Las Vegas. First pitch for Tuesday's game is 6:35 p.m. CT/4:35 p.m. PT. Sophomore Kenny Oakley (2-2, 1.37 ERA) will get the nod for the Rebels and left handed pitcher Colin Poche (2-0, 1.27) is expected to start for Arkansas. On Wednesday, sophomore Cody Roper (1-0, 7.88 ERA) will go for UNLV against the Razorbacks' Alex Phillips (2-0, 2.25 ERA). Fans can watch the games live (PPV) on ArkansasRazorbacks.com.