LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV baseball team will hit the road for the first time this season when they travel to face Santa Clara, February 27-March 1 at Stephen Schott Stadium. The Scarlet & Gray's nine-game homestand to begin the season is the longest since they opened the 2017 campaign with 10 straight home games.

The Santa Clara Broncos, who hail from the West Coast Conference, won their series opener against UC Davis, 5-2, but fell the next two games. In the lone win against the Aggies, three Broncos combined to strike out 13 batters, and RJ Meyn tied a career high with five strikeouts in a career-long-matching 4.1 innings of shutout relief.

Furthermore, the Broncos played host to an international showcase Tuesday night as they welcomed Waseda University of Tokyo for the Japanese program's 14th United States Tour, bringing one of Japan's most accomplished collegiate teams to Silicon Valley.

FOLLOW ALONG: Fans can follow this weekend's series between UNLV and Santa Clara through live stats, live video and social media. Links to stats and live video can be found online at UNLVRebels.com in the "schedule" section of the team's baseball page as well as on the team's official social media channels.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING: The Hustlin' Rebels and Braves will meet for the first since the 2024 season and the series dates back to the 1970 season, as the last meeting was held at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. Additionally, this will be the first meeting at Santa Clara since the 1984 season.

LOOKING BACK: The Hustlin' Rebels are winners of five straight games, having won both of its games this week against Western Michigan. UNLV defeated the Broncos, 9-5, on Tuesday evening before defeating WMU 16-1 in seven innings on Wednesday afternoon. 

In game one, UNLV's Reese Lueck was credited with his first win of the season after going 5.2 innings with eight hits, three runs (two earned runs) with one walk and five strikeouts. Ayden Garcia and Jonny Rodriguez belted their first home runs in the Scarlet & Gray.

In game two, every starter for the Hustlin' Rebels recorded at least one hit. Drew Barragan and Nin Burns II both hit their second home runs of the campaign, with the former recording a three-run home run while the latter hit a solo home run. Yates Bland was credited with his team-best second win of the season after going 5 innings with one earned run, no walks and four strikeouts.

NEWCOMERS MAKE AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT: The UNLV Rebels' 2026 roster features 27 newcomers with 26 transfers and one true freshman; however, two of the transfers will not play this year due to injury, Drew Charney) and Kevin Smith. Seventeen of those newcomers made their Rebel debuts in the season-opening, nonconference series against the Austin Peay Governors. Delving deeper, nine of those first-year Rebels have had a minimum of two plate appearances, while eight more have pitched in at least one game. Seniors Jack Salmon and Nin Burns II have appeared in all nine contests, as the former has started eight of the nine games in left field, while the latter has gotten nine starts at right field. Additionally, junior Marcos Rosales (Cal State Fullerton) has played in all nine games, with eight starts (all at second base), while junior Drew Barragan and senior Ayden Garcia have seen action in eight and seven games, respectively. Jayden Sanchez has seen time in all nine games as well, with six starts in center field. On the mound, the Scarlet & Gray has gotten starts from three newcomers - Parker Dillhoff, Felix Ong and Yates Bland. Juniors Tate Foxson (Butler) Gavyn Bowen (State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota), Jacob Gomberg (Florida), LJ Manning (Dakota Community Technical College) and Cal Barna (UNC Ashville) have made three relief appearances apiece.

NOTABLE NEWCOMER PERFORMANCES
-Garcia came through against Western Michigan by batting .667 with a pair of hits, with one being a home run, and slugged 1.667.
-Barragan went 4-for-9 with one home run, four RBI, hit .444 with a team-tying-high seven total bases in the two-game series.
-Rodriguez also belted his first career home run in the Scarlet & Gray, and hit .500 by going 3-for-6 with a pair of extra-base hits.
-UNLV used six combined pitchers in the two-game series and just four players out of the bullpen. Jase Evangelista went 1.1 innings of work in the series opener against Western Michigan with a pair of strikeouts.
-LJ Manning struck out four batters in his relief outing on Wednesday.
-Colton Sundloff retired all three batters he faced in the series finale.

REBELS PICKED SIXTH: UNLV was predicted to finish the 2026 conference season in sixth place (32 points) by the nine head coaches. The Rebels was slotted behind UNR (60 points/five first-place votes), Fresno State (55 points/three votes), conference newcomer Grand Canyon (47 points/one first-place votes), New Mexico (36 points) and San Jose State (33 points), who was picked to finish first through fifth, respectively. San Diego State (30 points), Washington State (17) and Air Force (14) were tabbed to conclude the year in seventh, eighth and ninth.

LANE TABBED TO MW'S PRESEASON TEAM: UNLV baseball's Carson Lane was named to the MW's Preseason All-Conference Team, which was voted on by the league's nine head coaches. The honor marks his first preseason All-Conference selection during his time with the Scarlet & Gray. Lane, a junior right-handed pitcher from Huntington Beach, California, was named to last season's All-MW First Team in his second season with the Hustlin' Rebels where he posted the second-most wins in MW action (5) and the third-most strikeouts in conference play (61). In MW action, Lane registered a 4.45 ERA in 56.2 innings after allowing 28 earned runs (30 total). He posted the fourth best opponent batting average at .230 and his season was highlighted by helping throw UNLV's first no-hitter since 2003 where he went eight innings striking out nine Fresno State batters on three walks en route to winning MW Pitcher of the Week and College Baseball Foundation (CBF) National Pitcher of the Week accolades. The junior led the Rebels with 85 strikeouts, third among MW pitchers and recorded the second-best ERA in the MW (4.23) with a 6-4 record.

REBEL RETURNERS: Including All-Mountain West First Team honoree in Carson Lane, the Scarlet & Gray will see veterans Cooper Sheff and Gunnar Myro make their returns to the starting lineup. Sheff, a redshirt sophomore infielder, played in 53 games and started 49 of them where he batted .281 (fifth on the team) with 54 hits (fourth on the team) including 12 doubles, a triple and six home runs. The Las Vegas native brought in 30 RBI, scored the third-most runs on the team (41) and was named the MW Freshman of the Week three times last season. Myro, a junior from Las Vegas, played in 43 games with 35 starts where he batted .260 with a career-high 32 hits including four doubles and three home runs.

NEW REBEL PITCHERS: The Rebels welcome 27 newcomers, including key starting pitchers in Parker Dillhoff and Felix Ong. Dillhoff, who transferred from Louisiana, made nine appearances with two starts, throwing 7.1 innings with 10 hits allowed along with 11 earned runs. He struck out seven batters and collected a season-high four strikeouts in his Rajun Cajun debut where he threw two innings in a start against San Jose State. Ong, a sophomore transfer out of Florida, pitched in three games out of the UF bullpen as a true freshman. He fanned six batters in 3 1/3 innings pitched.

SCOUTING THE REBELS: UNLV went 31-23 and punched its ticket to the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Championship for the first time since 2022 and 21st overall tournament berth. The Scarlet & Gray earned the four seed where they fell to the fifth-seeded Aztecs of San Diego State, 8-0, in the first round contest.

The Scarlet & Gray returns 10 letterwinners from last year's team, and that includes four positional players and two starting pitchers – six pitchers in all.

Additionally, there are 27 newcomers donning the Scarlet & Gray this season, 13 pitchers and 14 positional players. Moreover, catcher Drew Charney and outfielder Kevin Smith will miss the 2026 season due to injuries, leaving 11 positional players that are newcomers, including one true freshman, Noah Kubasky.

SCOUTING THE BRONCOS: Head Coach Rusty Filter enters his ninth season at the helm, and guided Santa Clara to 20 wins in 2025, marking its fourth consecutive 20-or-more wins season, the first time the Broncos have done that in 17 years. The 2026 Broncos return 24 letterwinners from a year ago, including 2025 all-WCC second team honoree Max Bayles and all-WCC honorable mentions Ben Cleary and Cooper Lanz. Max Bayles was named the Preseason Pitcher of the year by D1Baseball.com, landed on Perfect Game's WCC Preseason Team, and the WCC Preseason Team, as voted on by coaches. Santa Clara was among the nation's best in 2025 in strikeouts per nine innings (59th), hit-by-pitches (66th) and fielding % (67th). Ben Cleary leads the team with a .531 batting average with a team-best 17 hits, while Max Ross has driven in a team-high 13 runs.

2026 SEASON: UNLV baseball will play a total of 55 regular season games in 2026, with five of those against two teams that participated in last season's NCAA Tournament. In all, the Rebels will play 32 home contests in Las Vegas with 31 of those on campus at Earl E. Wilson Stadium and one more – a March 23 affair against Arizona State – at the Las Vegas Ballpark in Downtown Summerlin. In addition to the 24 Mountain West contests, the Scarlet & Gray's season slate is highlighted by 30 nonconference games against 15 squads that hail from 10 different leagues. Overall, these 15 teams compiled a .464 winning percentage, and five of those finished with winning records. Delving deeper, four – Austin Peay (ASUN), Cal State Fullerton (Big West), Milwaukee (Horizon) and Southern Illinois (Missouri Valley) finished in the top three of their respective conference standings. Moreover, six of 2026's foes had an end-of-year NCAA RPI that was 125th or better, with six of those in the top 90: Arizona State at No. 49, BYU at No. 62 and Austin Peay at No. 90.