LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV baseball team (16-11 overall, 11-10 MW) returns home to Las Vegas and Earl E. Wilson Stadium for the final time during the 2021 regular season to host the San Diego State Aztecs (25-12, 17-10 MW) in a three-game, Mountain West series this weekend. The Rebels and Aztecs will square off twice Saturday and once Sunday, with first pitch of each day's action scheduled for 11:05 am.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow along with this weekend's Mountain West series between UNLV and SDSU through a live video as well as live stats. Links to both video and stats can be found online at UNLVRebels.com in the "schedule" section of the team's baseball page. Additionally, fans can follow the team's Twitter account – @UNLVbaseball – for links to video and stats as well as inning-by-inning updates.
 
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
With this week's three-game, Mountain West set, UNLV and SDSU close out the season series, which the latter leads, 2-1, after the two met in San Diego at Tony Gwynn Stadium on March 13-14. The Rebels managed to win game two, 5-1; however, the Aztecs took the first and third contests by scores of 3-1 and 8-6, respectively.
 
UNLV and SDSU have played a total of 162 times in the head-to-head series. Dating back to 1978, the Aztecs own a 34-game edge, 98-64, over the Rebels.
 
ON DECK
Following the conclusion of this weekend's SDSU series, UNLV will hit the road one last time with a trip to the Golden State to face the Fresno State Bulldogs (May 22-23) at Pete Beiden Field and Bob Bennett Stadium in Fresno. The Rebels and Bulldogs will square off three times with a Saturday doubleheader and a single contest on Sunday. First pitch for both days is scheduled for 1:35 pm.
 
SENIOR SEND-OFF
Sunday's game is not only the home finale for UNLV, but it's also the last time that some Rebels will be playing at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. The baseball program will recognize its 10 outgoing seniors: AJ Amelburu, Austin Bryan, Myles Denson, Jason Hare, Chase Maddux, Larry Quaney, Trevor Rosenberg, Bradley Spooner, Alex Tisminezky and Conner Woods.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
>San Diego State: The Aztecs enter the week sporting a 25-12 overall record and 17-10 mark in the Mountain West, which has them sitting in first place ... The Aztecs began the year 5-2 before they began a stretch of 21 straight games against MW competition, going 14-7 and upping their overall mark to 19-9 ... The Aztecs followed that stretch with a three-game sweep of Dixie State; however, they suffered three straight losses to UNR (April 30-May 1) before rebounding with three consecutive wins against San Jose State last week (May 8-9) ... The Aztecs are batting .326 as a team with 331 hits, 113 extra-base hits (71 doubles, 29 home runs and 13 RBI) that have resulted in a .467 slugging percentage ... The Aztecs have five players hitting .344 or better with a minimum of 43 hits ... The Aztecs are led by Jaden Fein, who has been named the MW's Player of the Week four times this season, including the first three of the campaign, and his team-best .437 average, 66 hits, 15 doubles, and 48 RBI ... Fein has also contributed 36 runs, three homers, 90 total bases and slugged .596 ... Matt Rudick is also hitting above .400, posting a .417 average, with 60 hits, six doubles, four homers, 52 runs and 37 RBI ... The Aztecs own a 5.47 ERA and has allowed 196 earned runs (254 total) off 342 hits in 322.2 innings of work ... The Aztecs have struck out 332 batters and walked 171.
 
HOT HITTING COMIN' TO EARL E.
Entering the weekend, San Diego State and UNLV sit No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, in batting average in the NCAA. The Aztecs own a slight edge over the Rebels by merely .003 points, as the former is batting .326 to the latter's .323. Only Wright State (.334) and Arizona (.328) are ahead of the Mountain West pair.
 
The teams are separated by a much wider gap in slugging percentage, as the Rebels are No. 3 (.531), while the Aztecs are No. 32 (.467). UNLV only trails Wright State (.570) and Old Dominion (.540).
 
As for on-base percentage, SDSU sits higher in the rankings at No. 12 (.408), while UNLV is No. 16 (.401).
 
Individually, SDSU's Jaden Fein and Matt Rudick are No. 3 (.437) and No. 7 (.417) overall, while UNLV's Jack-Thomas Wold is No. 13 (.407). Additionally, Fein is No. 27 in on-base percentage (.497) and Wold is No. 28 in slugging percentage (.708).
 
UNLV's Brendan Brooks is hitting .435 (30-for-69) in 19 games, but has not hit the minimum of at-bats to qualify for the NCAA rankings.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING ... TEAM
For the year, UNLV is hitting .323 as a team with 312 hits, 114 of which have gone for extra bases with 66 doubles, 39 home runs and nine triples, to go along with 201 runs and 185 RBI. Conversely, Rebel pitching owns a 5.29 ERA with 190 strikeouts against 139 earned runs (158 total), 282 hits and 67 walks in 236.2 innings.
 
In the NCAA rankings (through May 9), the Rebels are ranked in the top 100 of eight NCAA Division I offensive statistical categories. UNLV is second in doubles per game (2.44), third in slugging percentage (.531), fourth in batting average (.323), 16th in both home runs per game (1.44) and on-base percentage (.401), 22nd in scoring (7.4), 36th in triples per game (0.33) and 95th in home runs (39).
 
UNLV's pitching staff is also ranked highly in numerous NCAA statistics, too; coming in seventh in walks allowed per 9.0 innings (2.55), 33rd in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.84) and 95th in shutouts (two).
 
Additionally, the team is 83rd in win-loss percentage (.593) and 95th in both double plays per game (0.70) and fielding percentage (.972).
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING ... PLAYER
For the year, UNLV has seven players hitting .320 or better with a minimum of 30 hits. Brendan Brooks leads the Rebels with a .435 batting average; however, he only has 69 at-bats in 19 games and hasn't met the threshold to qualify for the category. Jack-Thomas Wold (.407/46 hits), Austin Kryszczuk (.376/35), Myles Denson (.352/32), Edarian Williams (.344/33), Diego Alarcon (.322/37) and Eric Bigani (.320/33) round out those aforementioned with .320-plus averages.
 
In the national rankings, three of those previously noted Rebels sit 163rd or better in batting average, as Wold leads the trio at No. 13. Kryszczuk and Denson are No. 63 and No. 163, respectively. Unfortunately, Brooks has not met minimum requirements, yet.
 
Additionally, Wold (No. 28/.708) and Denson (No. 151/.593) are near the top 150 in slugging.
 
Kryszczuk & Wold are the only Rebels to rank in the top 100 of on-base percentage, coming in No. 76 (.473) and No. 84 (.469), respectively.