LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - With an 11-13 record in MW action and winning the tiebreaker over Grand Canyon and San José State, UNLV earned the final berth to the MW championship and is the No. 6 seed. The Rebels are making their second straight MW tournament appearance and 22nd overall in program history. The Scarlet & Gray are 29-36 all-time in the MW Tournament.

CREDIT UNION 1 MOUNTAIN WEST BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Thursday, May 21
1:05 pm | G1: #3 Air Force vs. #6 UNLV
6:05 pm | G2: #4 UNR vs. #5 New Mexico
Friday, May 22
1:05 pm | G3: No. 1 San Diego State vs. Winner G2
6:05 pm | G4: No. 2 Washington State vs. Winner G1
Saturday, May 23
9:05 am | G5: G3 Loser vs. G4 Loser
1:05 pm | G6: G3 Winner vs G4 Winner
6:05 pm | G7: G5 Winner vs. G6 Loser
Sunday, May 24
12:05 pm | Game 8: G6 Winner vs. G7 Winner
3:05 pm | Game 9: G8 Winner vs. G8 Loser (if necessary)

FOLLOW ALONG: Fans can follow this week's Credit Union 1 Mountain West Baseball Championship 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.

FIRST PITCH: The UNLV Hustlin' Rebels closed out the regular season this past weekend at home winning two out of three games against regular season champions San Diego State. UNLV lost the first game, 15-1, in seven innings, and that victory sealed the Aztecs the outright regular season title and the No. 1 seed. Furthermore, UNLV clinched the No. 6 seed in the series finale on Saturday with Gunnar Myro hitting a walk-off 10th inning two-run home run.

The Scarlet & Gray begins play Thursday against the Air Force Falcons, the tournament's third seed, at 1:05 pm. That contest will be the first of the tournament's "play-in" game, as No. 4 UNR and No. 5 New Mexico will follow at 6:05 pm. The winner of the UNLV/Air Force game will assume a spot in the tournament and play No. 2 Washington State at 6:05 pm on Friday.   Both No. 1 San Diego State and No. 2 Washington State are off Thursday due to their 1-2 finish in league play. SDSU and WSU will see their first action Friday.

SCOUTING AIR FORCE: Air Force heads into the MW Baseball Championships with a 25-26 overall record and finished the conference season with an 15-9 record. The Falcons are the No. 3 seed in the tournament. Wyatt Hanoian leads the Falcons' offense with a .351 batting average. Ben Niednagel is second on the squad with a .332 batting average and leads Air Force with 64 hits. Niednagel also is tied for the team-high in doubles with 15. Easton Miller leads the pitching staff with a 3.97 ERA through 15 appearances. Marcus Downing leads the team with six wins and carries an ERA of 4.65. Gaines Estridge leads the team with 40 strikeouts.

250 CAREER WINS: Head coach Stan Stolte collected his 250th career win at UNLV in game one of a doubleheader against Austin Peay on Friday, February 14 when the Hustlin' Rebels defeated the Governors, 9-8.

STRIKEOUT RECORD: UNLV pitchers have struck out a program-record 517 batters this season, as the previous record was 514 during the 2003 campaign.

STRIKEOUT RECORD IN ONE GAME: Parker Dillhoff (10), Tate Foxson (6), LJ Manning (4) and Colton Sundloff (2) combined to set the program record for the most single-game pitching strikeouts. The previous record was 17 (three times), which was last notched on February 22, 2025 against No. 25 Cincinnati.

ON-BASE STREAK: Drew Barragan has reached base in all 52 games he's played in this season and has an on-base streak of 53 games dating back to his time at Western Kentucky last season. Barragan has two 10+ game hitting streaks and has 23 multi-hit games this season.

BARRAGAN AWARDS: Barragan was named a D1Baseball Midseason Second Team All-American on April 1 and a Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award Midseason Watch List honoree on April 20.

BARRAGAN NATIONALLY SPEAKING: Through Barragan's first 28 games, the Trabuco Canyon, California native led the nation in hits (53) and triples (6).

HITTING STREAK: Third baseman Gunnar Myro now has a 16-game hitting streak, the longest streak of any batter on the Scarlet & Gray this season. His hitting streak began on April 14 against Utah Tech, and during that stretch, the Las Vegas native is hitting .390 with 23 hits, a slugging percentage of .508 and an on-base percentage of .438.

EXTRA BASE HITS: Junior catcher Gavin Taylor has stepped into the starting catcher the last half of the season, starting 23 games behind the plate. The Tarzana, California native has 18 hits this season, with 13 of those hits being extra-base hits (8 home runs, 3 doubles).

THE BIG UNIT: Senior lefthander Parker Dillhoff leads the team with 94 strikeouts and has garnered double-digit strikeouts in three games this season, including a career-high 12 strikeouts in a no decision against San Jose State on March 28 at home. The Lebanon, Ohio native has an opponent batting average of .282 in 68.1 innings of work.

GO THE DISTANCE: Junior relief pitcher Jase Evangelista has a team-tying high four saves this season and has pitched three or more innings in seven appearances. The Riverside, California native earned his team-high fourth save of the season where he threw the final four innings giving up three hits, one earned run, one walk and a season-high six strikeouts in a 3-1 win against San Diego State on May 15.

BACK BACK BACK GONE: In a 17-1 run-rule road victory against Fresno State on May 9, junior first baseman Jonny Rodriguez became the first Hustlin' Rebel to hit three home runs in a game since Xavier Scruggs did so against San Diego State on April 19, 2008.

CAMBRIA CLASSIC PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT: Nin Burns II was named the Cambria College Classic Player of the Tournament after batting .500 (6-for-12) with one home run, two doubles, two walks, five RBI, scored four runs, totaled 11 bases, slugged .917 and had an on-base percentage of .571 against Minnesota, Southern Illinois and Northwestern, March 6-8 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

MOUNTAIN WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Junior second baseman Marcos Rosales was named Mountain West Player of the Week on March 30 after the Hustlin' Rebels claimed two out of three games against San Jose State. Additionally, the Scarlet & Gray battled against No. 22 Arizona State, ultimately falling 12-11. Rosales went 10-for-18 with a 1.111 slugging percentage, a .556 batting average, a .618 on-base percentage with 15 RBI, nine runs scored, three home runs, one double, 20 total bases and three walks.

NEWCOMERS MAKE AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT: UNLV's roster features 26 newcomers with 25 transfers and one true freshman. Three of those first-year Rebels (Barragan, Rosales, Rodriguez) have a minimum of 200 plate appearances, while five more have pitched in at least 15 games. Rosales is the lone Rebel to have appeared in all 54 contests, as he has 53 games starting at second base. Additionally, Burns II Rodriguez has played in 53, while Drew Barragan has played in 52 games. Ayden Garcia has seen action in 45 games, Reggie Bussey has seen time in 37 games as well, starting 35 games in center field. Junior catcher Gavin Taylor has stepped into the catcher's role of late, with 23 starting behind the plate and has played in 36 total games. On the mound, the Scarlet & Gray has gotten starts from five newcomers; Dillhoff, Felix Ong, Yates Bland, Ryan Marton and Josh Donegan.

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 26 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.

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.