LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV baseball program had five of its own selected on the second and final day of the 2026 Major League Baseball Draft Sunday, the most the program saw in a single draft since six Hustlin' Rebels were selected in the 2018 draft. The Cleveland Guardians chose junior Carson Lane and senior Parker Dillhoff in the 14th and 18th round, respectively, junior Jase Evangelista was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 14th round, junior Ryan Marton was picked up by the Chicago Cubs in the 17th round, while the Los Angeles Angels chose senior Jack Salmon in the 19th.
Lane established himself as one of the Mountain West's top pitchers during his three seasons at UNLV, earning All-Mountain West First Team honors in 2025 while collecting multiple conference, national and academic accolades. Academically, the Huntington Beach, California native was a two-time CSC Academic All-District® selection (2025, 2026), two-time Academic All-Mountain West honoree and 2024-25 Mountain West Scholar-Athlete Award recipient.
As a junior in 2026, Lane appeared in 14 games with 13 starts, compiling a 3-4 record over 62.1 innings. He struck out 70 batters while recording eight strikeouts in three outings and at least six strikeouts in five starts, finishing with double-digit strikeout totals in four or more batters in 11 appearances.
Lane enjoyed a breakout sophomore campaign in 2025, earning All-Mountain West First Team recognition after leading the Rebels with 85 strikeouts, the third-most in the conference, while posting the Mountain West's second-best ERA (4.23) and a 6-4 record across 15 starts. During conference play, he ranked second in wins (5), third in strikeouts (61) and fourth in opponent batting average (.230). He was instrumental in UNLV's first no-hitter since 2003, tossing eight hitless innings with nine strikeouts against Fresno State to earn Mountain West Pitcher of the Week and College Baseball Foundation National Pitcher of the Week honors. Lane also struck out a season-high 10 batters against Milwaukee and recorded at least four strikeouts in 11 starts while surpassing five innings pitched eight times.
As a freshman in 2024, Lane appeared in 15 games with nine starts after earning a spot in the Rebels' starting rotation during the season. He logged 40.2 innings while issuing just 15 walks over 192 batters faced and recorded a then-career-high four strikeouts in 2.1 innings of relief during a victory over UNR. In his three-year career, Lane produced nine victories with 179 strikeouts in 181.2 innings of work.
Evangelista's lone season in the Scarlet & Gray saw the Riverside, California native make 19 relief appearances where he ranked third on the team with 64 strikeouts. He threw 46.2 innings with 34 runs (32 earned) where he walked 18 batters and went 4-1 overall with a team-high four saves. Evangelista recorded a 6.17 ERA, a 1.48 WHIP, gave up 51 hits and held opponents to a .282 batting average. The junior right-handed pitcher posted back-to-back saves against Cal State Fullerton (March 17) and San Jose State (March 28) as well as back-to-back saves against Fresno State (May 8) and San Diego State (May 15). Among his notable outings saw him throw 2.0 scoreless innings against Santa Clara (Feb. 27) striking out three batters, as well as throwing 2.0 scoreless innings against New Mexico (April 2) striking out three batters. He struck out a season-high six batters against SDSU on May 15.
Marton appeared in 13 games with four starts, producing a 2-3 record with a 6.16 ERA, 22 strikeouts and a 1.32 WHIP in 19 innings of work. The Toronto, Ontario native gave up 15 runs with 13 of them earned, walked nine batters and recorded 1.69 strikeouts per game. He held opponents to a .219 batting average for his second straight collegiate season. Marton struck out two batters in his season debut against Cal State Fullerton (March 17) where he threw one inning and gave up no runs. The right-handed pitcher struck out a season-high six batters in the regular season finale against San Diego State, going a season-high 4.2 innings.
Dillhoff made 15 starts on the mound, throwing a team-high 69.1 innings and struck out a team-best 94 starters. The Lebanon, Ohio native gave up 80 hits, 66 runs (58 earned) and 43 walks. He went 4-5 overall, recorded a 1.77 WHIP on a .288 opponent batting average. Dillhoff pitched a complete-game seven-inning run-rule win against Utah Tech (March 21) where he gave up seven hits on one earned run with nine strikeouts. The left-handed pitcher struck out double-digit batters three times, including 10 against Bradley (Feb. 21) where he was one of four Rebel pitchers to help the squad strike out a combined 22 Bradley batters, the most in one game in program history. He also struck out a career-high 12 batters against San Jose State (March 28) in 5.2 innings. Additionally, Dillhoff threw 6.0 innings against Milwaukee (May 1), striking out 11 batters.
Salmon, the lone position player drafted by UNLV, played in 49 games with 45 starts, all in left field. The Newport Beach, California native ranked 52nd in the nation in on-base percentage (.485), which led the team. He recorded a .344 batting average with 154 at-bats, 42 runs scored, 53 hits, 10 doubles, one triple, three home runs, 32 RBI, 28 walks and a team-high 15 hit-by-pitches. Salmon posted a .481 slugging percentage, a .485 on-base percentage, stole four bases, notched a sacrifice fly and garnered a .960 fielding percentage. He earned five three-hit games, including back-to-back three-hit games against Grand Canyon (April 12) and Utah Tech (April 14). Salmon drove home a season-high four runs against the Lopes (April 12). Furthermore, Salmon was hit-by-a-pitch in three straight games (March 29, March 30, April 2) and twice in back-to-back games (April 8 - Arizona State, April 10 - Grand Canyon).
