May 13, 2014
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV baseball (30-20/17-10 Mountain West) returns home and will play its final midweek game of the regular season against Arizona State (26-21) on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. The game between the Rebels and Sun Devils will be broadcast on 920 The Game and fans can also watch online at UNLVRebels.com. UNLV most recently closed out a seven-game road trip which included a series loss at San Diego State last weekend. The Rebels won the first game of the series 6-1 but fell 7-3 and 3-2 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Arizona State comes into the game after winning a series over No. 9 Oregon in Tempe, Ariz. The Sun Devils dropped the series opener 5-4, but bounced back to beat the Ducks in back-to-back games 9-4 and 8-6. Before facing Oregon, ASU dropped three games at No. 9 Oklahoma State. This season the Sun Devils are 7-10 on the road and their last road win came at Arizona on April 26.
SCOUTING THE REBELS
UNLV baseball (30-20/17-10 Mountain West) returns home and will play its final midweek game of the regular season against Arizona State (26-21) on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. The game between the Rebels and Sun Devils will be broadcast on 920 The Game and fans can also watch online at UNLVRebels.com. UNLV most recently closed out a seven-game road trip which included a series loss at San Diego State last weekend. The Rebels won the first game of the series 6-1 but fell 7-3 and 3-2 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Cody Roper (1-1, 8.01 ERA) will get the start for UNLV against ASU on Tuesday. Erick Fedde (8-2, 1.76 ERA) has led the Rebels this season, but he will have to undergo Tommy John surgery, which will end his season. He finished with 82 strikeouts in 76.2 innings of work and opponents hit .209 against him this year. John Richy (9-3, 2.82 ERA) picked up his ninth win of the year at San Diego State and now leads the conference in wins. Richy ranks second in the MW, behind his teammate, with 86 strikeouts in 99.0 innings of work, which is a team-high. He also leads the Rebels with five complete games in 2014. Bryan Bonnell (5-5, 2.63 ERA) has struck out 37 batters this season and has walked 13 in 95.2 innings of work. Kenny Oakley (3-6, 3.22 ERA) will move into the third starting role. He has struck out 68 batters in 78.1 innings of work this season and has made 15 appearances, 11 of which have been starts. Brayden Torres (1-1, 2.70 ERA) leads the team with six saves and has struck out 28 in 23.1 innings of work. From the plate the Rebels are led by Morgan Stotts (.344), Patrick Armstrong (.312), T.J. White (.308), Joey Swanner (.304) and Joey Armstrong (.301). Pat Armstrong leads the team with six home runs and has driven in a team-high 40 runs. White leads the team with 16 stolen bases and has scored a team-high 40 runs. Joey Armstrong has drawn a team-high 28 walks and has stolen seven bases, which is tied with VanMeetren for the second most on the team. Edgar Montes recorded his six outfield assists, which is tied for 17th in the country. As a team, UNLV is hitting .292 this season and has recorded 15 outfield assists.
SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS
Arizona State (26-21) comes into the game after winning a series over No. 9 Oregon in Tempe, Ariz. The Sun Devils dropped the series opener 5-4, but bounced back to beat the Ducks in back-to-back games 9-4 and 8-6. Before facing Oregon, ASU dropped three games at No. 9 Oklahoma State. This season the Sun Devils are 7-10 on the road and their last road win came at Arizona on April 26. Nathaniel Causey leads team with a .323 batting average. Drew Stankiewicz (.313) Christopher Beall (.306) and Johnny Sewald (.305) are all hitting over the .300 for ASU. Seth Martinez (3-0, 4.55 ERA) will get the start for Arizona State. UNLV faced Martinez earlier this season in Tempe, Ariz. and he allowed two runs on six hits and recorded three strikeouts in a no decision. UNLV lost that game 5-2, but the Sun Devils needed to score three late runs to secure the win.
UNLV-ARIZONA STATE HISTORY
Arizona State leads the overall series against UNLV 58-14-1. The Rebels most recently fell to the Sun Devils in Tempe, Ariz. earlier this season. ASU has won the last five meetings between the two schools, including an 11-3 win over victory in Las Vegas last year. This will be the third meeting between the two in Las Vegas since the turn of the century and UNLV is 1-1 in those games.
ON DECK
UNLV will wrap up its season with three home games against Nevada, Reno Thursday through Saturday. It will be the only meeting between the two rivals in 2014 and while the Rebels have already secured the Governor's Series over the Wolf Pack, 3.0 points will be on the line.
