UNLV Game Notes - MW Tournament | SJSU Game Notes - MW Tournament

RENO, Nev. (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV baseball (24-29, 10-20 Mountain West) comes into the Mountain West Championship tournament as the No. 6 seed. The Rebels will face its most recent opponent in San Jose State (13-43, 6-24 MW) at 11:00 a.m. PT on Wednesday. The two schools wrapped up their respective regular seasons last week in San Jose, Calif.

SCOUTING THE REBELS
- UNLV baseball (24-29, 10-20 Mountain West) is coming off of a series win over San Jose State last weekend. The Rebels dropped the series opener 3-0, but bounced back to win 9-3 in the second game and won the series 9-6 in 10 innings over the Spartans.
- Earlier in May, UNLV traveled to San Diego, CA and fell 4-1 on Friday, but bounced back and defeated the Aztecs 3-2 on Saturday and 4-3 on Sunday. It was the Rebels first series victory at Tony Gwynn Field since 2007 and sixth time since 1978 that UNLV has captured a series in America's Finest City. It capped off a stretch where the Rebels had won six of seven games.
- In April, The Rebels defeated No. 5 Arizona State 7-6. UNLV's win over the Sun Devils was the first time the team captured a victory over a top-five team since 2003, when it beat No. 3 Cal State Fullerton. It was also the Rebels first win against ASU since 2002.
- The Rebels 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. UNLV defeated the Huskers 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.
- The starting pitcher for Wednesday is expected to be Kenny Oakley (3-5, 3.39 ERA) and he will face San Jose State's Kalei Contrades (4-9, 5.28 ERA).
- Senior Joey Lauria (3-3, 3.42 ERA) owns the best strikeout-to-walk ratio on the team as he has recorded 55 punch outs against 14 walks in 47.1 innings of work. He has made a team-high 20 appearances this season.
- The Rebels' bullpen has been anchored by two of the best closers in school history: juniors Zack Hartman and Brayden Torres. Torres leads the team with four saves, while Hartman has recorded three.
- Senior Dylan Ellis leads the Rebels from the plate with a batting average of .323. Ellis, who has been a reserve for most of his career, also has 13 games with multiple hits, which is tied for the fourth most on the team.
- Senior Erik VanMeetren leads the team with five home runs and is hitting .300 on the year with 26 RBI.
- Edgar Montes (.320) is also hitting over .300 this season and ranks second on the team with three home runs and 29 RBI.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN WEST TOURNAMENT
- No. 1 Nevada, Reno (41-13, 22-7 Mountain West) ... Wolf Pack earned top overall seed for first time since joining the conference and will play the highest remaining seed on Thursday.
- No. 2 San Diego State (35-20, 19-10 MW) ... The Aztecs have won three MW tournaments, including last season in Las Vegas ... SDSU will play the lowest remaining seed on Thursday.
- No. 3 Fresno State (29-26, 18-12 MW) ... The Bulldogs earned their best seed since joining the Mountain West ... Fresno State will play the winner of the play-in (UNLV vs. San Jose State) game on Wednesday.
- No. 4 New Mexico (29-25, 17-13 MW) vs. No. 5 Air Force (22-27, 11-17 MW) ... The Lobos and Falcons have only met three times in the MW tournaments and UNM is 3-0 in those games.
- No. 6 UNLV (24-29, 10-20 MW) vs. No. 7 San Jose State (13-43, 6-24 MW) ... This is the second postseason meeting between the two schools and SJSU beat UNLV in the WAC Tournament 8-7 in 1999.

UNLV - MOUNTAIN WEST TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Rebels have played in a total of 50 Mountain West Tournament games and has an even record at 25-25. UNLV has won three tournament championships (2003-05) and this is the third time the Rebels have been the sixth seed in the tournament (3-5 as the No. 6 seed). This is the first time that UNLV has played in the "play-in" game.