UNLV must win Mountain West baseball tournament to reach NCAAs

Just a year ago, UNLV didn’t need to win the Mountain West baseball tournament to earn an NCAA regional berth.

The Rebels had played so well during the regular season that they put themselves in position to receive a No. 2 seed despite coming up short in the conference championship.

Their circumstances are quite different this time. UNLV must win the Mountain West tournament, which begins today in Reno, to continue its season beyond this week.

UNLV (24-29) will have to go the difficult route to capture the automatic bid to a regional. The sixth-seeded Rebels play No. 7 San Jose State (13-43) in the play-in game at 11 a.m. today.

“This is going to tell whether we want to be in the tournament or not,” right-hander Joey Lauria said. “If we lose, obviously we don’t want to be in it. But if we win, I think we’ve got a pretty good shot.”

UNLV will start right-hander Kenny Oakley (3-5, 3.39 ERA) against the Spartans. If the Rebels win, they would meet third-seeded Fresno State (29-26) at 3 p.m. as the tournament becomes a double-elimination format.

Even if the Rebels win the opener, there will be stress on their pitching staff by having to play the extra game. That staff also will be without right-hander D.J. Myers (2-4, 4.50), who is out with a injured left foot.

“We didn’t need to lose a guy who was going to eat up a bunch of innings,” interim coach Stan Stolte said. “If we get deep into the tournament, that’s one more pitcher, and now with the injury, we’re moving down two slots to throw guys. All teams have injuries. We’ve just got to deal with it. We’ve got to win the first game first.”

UNLV entered the season with a lot of hope. The Rebels were coming off back-to-back winning 35-plus-victory seasons and the regional appearance in Corvallis, Ore.

The Rebels were confident they would build on that success, but the troubles began early when left-hander Zak Qualls injured his left bicep five pitches into the season. It would be that kind of storyline, with even coach Tim Chambers sidelined most of the season because of back surgery that still causes him pain when he stands for extended periods.

Even with all that has gone wrong, the Rebels have shown flashes of the team they expected to be.

They won series against Nebraska and Ohio State and split with Arizona State, all teams with Ratings Percentage Index rankings in the 30s. The Rebels also took two of three at second-seeded San Diego State (35-20) in early May.

Ten of UNLV’s losses have occurred in one-run games, so the Rebels have been competitive.

“Everybody knows what kind of potential we have on this team,” Lauria said. “If we win the play-in game, I think we’re going to make some noise.”

Other Mountain West teams know how UNLV feels. UNR is the only one that could advance to the NCAA Tournament without winning the conference tourney. And even the top-seeded Wolf Pack (41-13), with an RPI ranking of 47th, aren’t guaranteed an at-large spot.

So when coaches and players often talk about a 0-0 record entering a conference tournament, in this case, that is pretty close to being true for each team.

“Mentally, I think we’re in a good spot to be able to make a run at this thing,” UNLV catcher Erik VanMeetren said. “I don’t think anybody thinks we cannot make a run. Everybody’s onboard. Everybody’s ready to make something happen.

“There’s no one we can’t beat. Especially in the conference, there’s no one we can’t beat.”

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