UNLV Game Notes | San Diego State Game Notes

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV baseball (12-11, 2-7 Mountain West) will resume its season on Friday at 6:05 p.m. PT, as it Mountain West foe San Diego State (19-6, 7-2 MW) for a three-game series. First pitch for the Saturday and Sunday contests are slated for 2:05 p.m. PT and 1:05 p.m. PT, respectfully. Fans can watch all three games on UNLVRebels.com/videos, thanks to the Mountain West Network. Tyler Bischoff will handle the play-by-play duties on Friday. The stream will take the Sports Radio 920 The Game feed on Saturday and Sunday, where Dug Duggless and Josh Towers will have the call.

PROMOTIONS

Friday night against the Aztecs is "Ladies Night/Pink Game" at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. All ladies wearing pink will receive half-off their tickets and the first 250 through the gate will receive a t-shirt. After every game on Sunday at Earl E. Wilson Stadium this season, kids are invited to run the bases.

SCOUTING THE REBELS

UNLV baseball (12-11, 2-7 Mountain West) is coming off a week where the Rebels went 4-1 as the team collected a victory over Grand Canyon and three wins over Northwestern. The team defeated GCU 7-1 on Tuesday and followed up with a 3-1 series victory over the Wildcats. UNLV defeated Northwestern 9-8 in 15 innings, 11-8 in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday and 7-2 on Sunday. The Rebels' lone loss came in the first game of the doubleheader as the team fell 13-12. UNLV opened the season with a series victory over No. 23 Nebraska, but dropped its series opener with the Huskers in front of a record 3,173 fans 2-0. The Rebels bounced back to defeat Nebraska 5-3 on Saturday and then recorded a shut out with a 3-0 win on Sunday. It was the first series win over a ranked team since 2014 when the Rebels swept No. 24 New Mexico. It was also the first time since the Rebels joined the Mountain West that they shut out a ranked team. UNLV's starters for this weekend are projected to be sophomore D.J. Myers (2-2, 2.50 ERA) on Friday, junior Kenny Oakley (2-1, 3.18 ERA) on Saturday and freshman Blaze Bohall (3-0, 2.25) is slated to make his first career weekend start on Sunday. The bull pen has been anchored by two of the best closers in school history: juniors Zack Hartman and Brayden Torres. Senior Joey Lauria (2-0, 2.21 ERA) owns the best strikeout-to-walk ration on the team as he has recorded 21 punch outs against only two walks in 20.1 innings of work. From the plate, the Rebels have been led by senior Dylan Ellis, who is hitting .408. Ellis, who has been a reserve for most of his career, has worked his way into the lineup after swinging a hot bat and has started 15 of the team's 23 games. He has recorded eight games with multiple hits, which is tied for a team-high with Morgan Stotts, who leads the team with 21 RBI. Freshman Payton Squier is hitting .344 and leads the team with 31 hits. He has also recorded a team-high seven steals. Freshman Austin Anderson (.312) and senior Erik VanMeetren (.312) are both hitting over .300, while VanMeetren leads the team with three home runs. VanMeetren has also reached base safely in his last 14 at-bats coming into the first game against San Diego State.

SCOUTING THE AZTECS

San Diego State (19-6, 7-2 Mountain West) comes into the series with UNLV having won three of its last four games. The Aztecs swept Air Force last week at home before falling to No. 6 UCLA 5-2. The team leads the MW in batting average with .308 and is third in pitching with a combined ERA of 3.84. From the plate SDSU is led by Steven Palares (.410) and Chase Calaburg (.403) who are both hitting over .400. Palares leads the team with 30 RBI and ranks second with three home runs. David Hensley (.372), Ty France (.370), Danny Sheehan (.317) and Andrew Brown (.304) are all hitting over .300. From the mound, the Aztecs are led by probable Friday night starter Bubba Derby (3-1, 2.06 ERA). He leads the MW with 57 strikeouts in 39.1 innings of work. Mark Seyler (5-1, 2.97 ERA), who is slated to start on Saturday, has recorded 39 strikeouts, which is good for second in the conference. SDSU is slated to send Marcus Reyes (3-0, 2.97 ERA) to the mound on Sunday.

UNLV - SAN DIEGO STATE SERIES HISTORY

The Rebels and Aztecs have met a total of 130 times and San Diego State leads the series 76-54. In 2014, the two schools met a total of nine times. UNLV took two-of-three in the first meeting, which was in Las Vegas on March 21-23. The Aztecs evened up the season series in San Diego, Calif. May 9-11 by taking two-of-three in that series. The teams met in the Mountain West tournament on May 23, where UNLV won 5-4, advancing to the championship game. SDSU won out on the loser's side of the bracket and beat UNLV in the championship game 9-1 on May 24 to force an "if necessary" game. The Aztecs claimed a 4-3 victory over the Rebels to win the MW Tournament and took the season series 5-4. The teams first met in 1978 and have played at least once every year dating back to 1999.

ON DECK

After its three-game series with San Diego State, UNLV will be on the road for four straight games. The Rebels will play a midweek game at Long Beach State before resuming Mountain West play at Nevada, Reno. It will be the first time since 2009 that UNLV has faced LBSU in California and the Dirtbags lead the overall series 33-30. They will return the midweek trip to Las Vegas on May 5. After playing LBSU, the Rebels will travel north to face the Wolf Pack. UNR took its series with UNLV March 6-8. The Rebels lone win came on March 7 when Kenny Oakley tossed a complete-game shutout in a 1-0 win. Oakley earned MW Pitcher of the Week for his efforts. UNLV leads the overall series 78-52 over UNR.