LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV baseball team (19-11 overall, 14-10 MW) hits the road, once more, to close out the 2021 regular season. The Rebels head west to the Golden State for a three-game, Mountain West series against the Fresno State Bulldogs (17-22, 13-15 MW) in Fresno, California. The series begins with a doubleheader Saturday followed by a single contest Sunday. First pitch for both days is scheduled for 1:35 pm.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow along with this weekend's Mountain West series between UNLV and Fresno State through both live video and audio as well as live stats. Links to video, audio 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 the aforementioned links as well as inning-by-inning updates.
 
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
With this week's three-game, Mountain West set, UNLV and Fresno State close out the season series, which the former leads, 3-0, after the two met in Las Vegas at Earl E. Wilson Stadium on April 2-3. The Rebels swept the three-game series by scores of 9-5, 10-9 (11) and 9-6.
 
UNLV and FS have played a total of 103 times in the head-to-head series. Dating back to 1977, the Bulldogs own a 17-game edge, 60-43, over the Rebels.
 
ON DECK
Following the conclusion of this weekend's Mountain West series, UNLV will have to wait to see if its season will continue in the NCAA Tournament in two weeks. The Rebels, who have next weekend off, will have to sit back and watch how the conference season plays out.
 
To date, UNLV (14-10) sits second in the MW standings, while UNR (18-9), who is off this week, is first. Air Force (16-12) and San Diego State (17-13) are third and fourth, respectively, and are still eligible for the MW regular-season title; however, the two play each other this week.
 
Next weekend, UNR will play four at San Jose State (May 28-30), SDSU travels for three at New Mexico (May 28-29) and Air Force will host Fresno State three times (May 28-29).
 
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
>Fresno State: The Bulldogs enter the week sporting a 17-22 overall record and 13-15 mark in the Mountain West, which has them sitting in fifth place ... The Bulldogs began the year 2-0, but lost 10 of their next 15 before being swept by UNLV (April 2-3) in Las Vegas at Earl E. Wilson Stadium ... Those three losses to UNLV were part of a season-worst six-game losing streak ... The Bulldogs have gone 10-9 since their trip to Las Vegas, and that includes a season-best six-game winning streak (April 24-May 2), with three victories apiece over San Jose State and New Mexico ... The Bulldogs' successful run came to an end one week ago with three straight losses to UNR (May 15-16); however, FS did defeat USC, 13-10, Tuesday in Los Angeles ... The Bulldogs are batting .285 as a team with 375 hits, 125 extra-base hits (67 doubles, 46 home runs and 12 triples) that have resulted in a .459 slugging percentage ... The Bulldogs have six players batting .307 or better with a minimum of 21 hits ... The Bulldogs are led by Ryan Higgins, who is hitting a team-best .352 and team highs in runs (39), hits (50), doubles (10), triples (three), RBI (34), total bases (93), slugging (.655) and on-base (.457) percentages ... Dylan Johnson (.325) EJ Andrews (.324), Ivan Luna (.318), Andrew Kachel (.314) and Zach Morgan (.307) round out the six ... The Bulldogs own a 6.63 ERA and has allowed 244 earned runs (299 total) off 439 hits in 331.0 innings of work ... The Bulldogs have struck out 250 batters and walked 165.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING ... TEAM
For the year, UNLV is hitting .330 as a team with 356 hits, 127 of which have gone for extra bases with 73 doubles, 44 home runs and 10 triples, to go along with 234 runs and 214 RBI. Conversely, Rebel pitching owns a 5.16 ERA with 208 strikeouts against 150 earned runs (173 total), 309 hits and 73 walks in 261.2 innings.
 
In the NCAA rankings (through May 16), the Rebels are ranked in the top 100 of eight NCAA Division I offensive statistical categories. UNLV is second in doubles per game (2.43), third in both batting average (.330) and slugging percentage (.539), 11th in on-base percentage (.408), 14th in both home runs per game (1.47) and scoring (7.8), 33rd in triples per game (0.33) and 93rd in home runs (44).
 
UNLV's pitching staff is also ranked highly in numerous NCAA statistics, too; coming in fifth in walks allowed per 9.0 innings (2.51) and 31st in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.85).
 
Additionally, the team is 57th in win-loss percentage (.633) and 75th in both double plays per game (0.73).
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING ... PLAYER
For the year, UNLV has seven players hitting .315 or better with a minimum of 30 hits. Jack-Thomas Wold leads the Rebels with a .438 batting average with a team-best 56 hits. Brendan Brooks is second on the squad with a .416 average (32 hits); however, he has only 77 at-bats in 22 games and hasn't met the threshold to qualify for the category. Myles Denson (.375/39 hits), Austin Kryszczuk (.362/38), Edarian Williams (.355/39), Eric Bigani (.327/37) and Diego Alarcon (.315/40) round out those aforementioned with .315-plus averages.
 
In the national rankings, four of those previously noted Rebels sit 157th or better in batting average, as Wold leads the trio at No. 3. Denson is 59th, while Kryszczuk and Williams are 114th and 157th, respectively.
 
Additionally, Wold (No. 4/.812) and Denson (No. 142/.596) are in the top 150 in slugging.
 
Wold and Kryszczuk are the only Rebels to rank in the top 100 of on-base percentage, coming in No. 34th (.493) and No. 96 (.464), respectively.
 
BIGANI SELECTED A POSEY AWARD SEMIFINALIST
UNLV baseball's Eric Bigani has been selected as a semifinalist for the 2021 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award, the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission announced.
 
Bigani, a junior, has played in 29 games with 28 starts, which includes 23 at catcher and five more as the designated hitter. For the year, he is batting .327 with 37 hits, 16 of which have gone for extra bases with 10 doubles, four home runs and two triples, and helped produce a .558 slugging percentage. He has also walked eight times and knocked in 23 RBI and scored 20 runs. He sits 80th nationally in doubles per game (0.34).
 
WOLD WINDS UP WEEKLY AWARD WINNER
UNLV baseball's Jack-Thomas Wold was named the Mountain West's Player of the Week following the Rebels' three-game, conference sweep of San Diego State at Earl E. Wilson Stadium this past weekend. This is the third weekly honor for the junior from nearby Henderson.
 
Wold started all three contests at first base against the Aztecs, who had entered the series atop the MW standings. He led the team in nearly every offensive category, batting .667 (10-for-15) with 10 hits, 10 RBI and five runs. More impressively, he recorded 1.600 slugging and .688 on-base percentages with seven of his hits going for extra bases with three home runs, three doubles and one triple. Defensively, he was posted a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage with 24 putouts and two assists.