May 28, 2014
UNLV Baseball's Nike Tour Photo Gallery | UNLV Game Notes - NCAA Regionals 
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV baseball (35-23) will be the No. 2 seed in the Corvallis Regional of the NCAA Tournament that begins on Friday. The Rebels will open tournament play against No. 3 UC Irvine (35-22) at 2:05 p.m. PT. Fans can watch the game on ESPN3 or can listen to Dug Dugless' call on The Game 920. The Rebels earned their first at-large bid since 1989 and will be playing in their 11th NCAA Tournament. UNLV most recently played in the Mountain West Championship and was the No. 1 seed in the tournament. The Rebels won their first two games against Fresno State and San Diego State, but fell to the Aztecs in back-to-back games to close out the tournament. UC Irvine finished third in the Big West Conference and has lost its last six games, three to Long Beach State and three to Cal State Fullerton. The winner between the Rebels and Anteaters will play the winner of No. 1 Oregon State and No. 4 North Dakota State, who will play at 8:05 p.m. on ESPNU.
SCOUTING THE REBELS
UNLV baseball (35-23) will be the No. 2 seed in the Corvallis Regional of the NCAA Tournament that begins on Friday. The Rebels will open tournament play against No. 3 UC Irvine (35-22) at 2:05 p.m. PT. Fans can watch the game on ESPN3 or can listen to Dug Dugless' call on The Game 920. The Rebels earned their first at-large bid since 1989 and will be playing in their 11th NCAA Tournament. UNLV most recently played in the Mountain West Championship and was the No. 1 seed in the tournament. The Rebels won their first two games against Fresno State and San Diego State, but fell to the Aztecs in back-to-back games to close out the tournament. From the mound, 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 (11-3, 2.82 ERA) picked up his 11th win of the year against Fresno State and leads the MW in wins. Richy also ranks first in the conference with 105 strikeouts in a conference-high 113.1 innings of work. He also leads the Rebels with five complete games in 2014. Bryan Bonnell (6-5, 3.01 ERA) has struck out 45 batters this season and has walked 19 in 107.2 innings of work. Kenny Oakley (4-7, 3.35 ERA) has struck out 75 batters in 91.1 innings of work this season and has made 17 appearances, 13 of which have been starts. Brayden Torres (2-1, 2.05 ERA) leads the team with eight saves and has struck out 35 in 30.2 innings of work. From the plate the Rebels are led by Morgan Stotts (.346), T.J. White (.327), A.J. Hernandez (.311), Patrick Armstrong (.306), Edgar Montes (.303), Joey Armstrong (.302) and Joey Swanner (.302). Pat Armstrong leads the team with seven home runs and has driven in a team-high 45 runs. White leads the team with 17 stolen bases and has scored a team-high 45 runs. Edgar Montes has recorded seven outfield assists this season to lead all Rebel outfielders. As a team, UNLV is hitting .293 this season and has recorded 17 outfield assists.
SCOUTING THE NCAA CORVALLIS REGIONAL
The Corvallis Regional includes host and overall top seed Oregon State (42-12), No. 2 seeded UNLV (35-23), No. 3 UC Irvine (35-22) and No. 4 North Dakota State (25-24). The NCAA tournament is double elimination, so the Rebels are guaranteed at least two wins. The Rebels open against UC Irvine and the Anteaters lead the series 40-35-2. Oregon State also has a 5-4 all-time advantage over UNLV. If the Rebels and Bison meet during the regional, it will be the first meeting between the two schools.
UNLV'S NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
UNLV has a 10-20 overall record in the NCAA tournament and its most recent appearance came in 2005. This will be the first time that UNLV will play any of the teams in the Corvallis Regional in the NCAA tournament. This will also be the first time that the Rebels will be playin a regional in the state of Oregon. UNLV has most often played its NCAA ball in the state of Arizona, having been sent to the Grand Canyon State for four of its previous 10 regionals (1978, 1988, 2003, 2005 -- all in Tempe). The Rebels' other appearances came in Tulsa, Okla. (1980), Ann Arbor, Mich. (1981), Austin, Texas (1984), College Station, Texas (1989), Baton Rouge, La. (1996) and Palo Alto, Calif. (2004). UNLV will be looking to win its opening game in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1984 when it got by Oklahoma 2-1 in Austin, Texas. Overall, the Rebels stand 3-7 in opening-round games in the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels have never played a Big West Conference team or a Summitt League team in the NCAA, but UNLV has played three Pac-12 schools, going 2-6 overall (1-3 vs. Arizona State, 1-2 vs. California and 0-1 vs. Stanford).
ON DECK
If UNLV is able to win the Corvallis Regional, the Rebels will play the winner of the Stillwater Regional, which includes Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Cal State Fullerton and Binghamton. It would be the first Super Regional appearance in school history for UNLV.
FRIENDS OF UNLV NOW ON THE OTHER SIDE
Besides being conference mates in the Big West, UNLV and UC Irvine have another connection. UCI's Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Mike Nager, served as a graduate assistant coach at UNLV and earned his master's degree from the school in 1995. The Rebels also have a connection with regional host and top overal seed Oregon State. The Beaver's pitching coach, Nate Yeskie, was a student athlete and a coach at UNLV. Yeskie pitched for the Rebels from 1994-96 and served as UNLV's pitching coach from 2005-07. In 1995, he struck out a school-record 147 batters in 18 starts for the Rebels.
FAMILIAR FACES IN THE TOURNAMENT FIELD
A total of six teams that UNLV faced during the regular season are playing in the NCAA Tournament. Three of those teams are No. 2 seeds in their respective regionals: Nebraska (UNLV played at Nebraska on March 28-30, and went 2-1) is in the Stillwater Regional, Arizona State (April 15 and May 13, 0-2) is in the San Luis Obispo Regional and Arkansas (April 8-9, 1-1) is in the Charlottesville Regional. The three other teams are No. 3 seeds: Cal State Fullerton (March 18, 0-1) is in the Stillwater Regional, Clemson (May 4-5, 0-2) is in the Nashville Regional and San Diego State (March 21-23, May 9-11 and May 23-25; 4-5) is in the Lafayette Regional.
