Late-season uprising buoys Rebels’ hopes

Tim Chambers thought the baseball season was over, that his UNLV team didn't have anything left.

The season, it turned out, was just beginning.

The Rebels staged a stunning rally from four runs down at San Diego State on May 6 to beat the Aztecs, 5-4.

They then rode that comeback through the rest of the regular season, capping it with a three-game sweep at Sacramento State, co-champion of the Western Athletic Conference.

Now the Rebels' confidence is high heading into the Mountain West Conference tournament. No. 4 seed UNLV (26-29) faces top seed New Mexico (33-22) at 7 p.m. today at Wilson Stadium, and the Lobos' unexpected run to last season's tournament is helping to inspire the Rebels.

"Once you get there and get hot for three days, anything can happen," Chambers said. "So they believe they can win. The talk all day at the airport and on the way home (Sunday from Sacramento) was, 'Let's take one more road trip.' "

The tournament winner receives an automatic bid to an NCAA regional.

UNLV will send freshman right-hander Erick Fedde (6-4, 2.63 ERA) to the mound tonight. The Las Vegas High School graduate is a second-team all-conference selection.

"I honestly believe if we win the first game, we're so high in confidence right now it will carry on through and we'll have a really good chance to pull out ... the tournament," Fedde said.

The Rebels back up Fedde with one of the Mountain West's top offenses. UNLV ranks second in numerous categories, including batting average (.297), RBIs (327) and home runs (27).

Junior outfielder Brandon Bayardi, an all-conference first-teamer, leads UNLV with a .369 average, seven home runs, 54 RBIs and 12 stolen bases.

Bayardi and his teammates always believed they were better than their record, that this was a team capable of playing in a regional.

"From Day One, I've been saying that we have a better team than we had last year," Bayardi said, referring to the 2011 team that went 33-25. "You can't say the record indicates talent level because we had a ton of guys that had to mesh.

"It might've taken a long time, but I still think this team has a chance to go and do something special."

The Rebels began their push with that game at San Diego State. UNLV trailed 4-0 entering the eighth before rallying with a run in that inning and four in the ninth to steal the victory.

That helped propel the Rebels to five victories in the final seven games and give hope to what had seemed like a hopeless season.

"In the 23 years I've been coaching, usually when a team starts to do what we were doing (early), they start pointing fingers," Chambers said. "They never did that.

"They're really pulling for each other right now."

UNLV takes more than momentum into tonight. The Rebels also can look to recent history for hope.

Fresno State needed to win the WAC tournament to make a regional in 2008. The Bulldogs not only won the tournament but went on to become College World Series champions as well.

New Mexico entered last season's Mountain West tournament with a 16-39 record but then won the tourney in San Diego to earn a regional berth.

"We go to (New Mexico's) stadium, and you can see they have a video of last year," Fedde said. "It makes you think anything's possible once you make the tournament. We made it, and now it's up for grabs for anyone."

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.