UNLV baseball picked to finish 5th by Mountain West coaches

The UNLV baseball team was predicted to finish fifth out of seven teams in the Mountain West's preseason coaches poll, the league announced Tuesday.

Defending conference tournament champion San Diego State and New Mexico were picked to win the title, both receiving three first-place votes and 32 points overall. UNLV, which finished 25-31 last season and 10-20 in the Mountain West, is two years removed from the regular-season conference championship. During that 2014 season, the Rebels finished 36-25 overall and 20-10 in league play en route to a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

However, since then the Rebels have struggled and coach Tim Chambers was dismissed by the university following a DUI arrest. Stan Stotle was promoted to UNLV's coach Dec. 18 after serving as the acting head coach for five months.

Among the 16 returning Rebels are right-handed senior Kenny Oakley, who was selected to the preseason all-conference team.Oakley struck out 60 last season and compiled a 3.18 ERA.

The Rebels open the season Friday when they travel to the University of Texas for a three-game series. Conference play begins March 4, when UNLV hosts San Jose State.

The Mountain West tournament will be played at at Santa Ana Star Field in Albuquerque, May 25-29.

2016 MOUNTAIN WEST PRESEASON COACHES POLLRank Team (1st-place votes) Points1. New Mexico (3) 321. San Diego State (3) 323. Air Force 243. Fresno State (1) 245. UNLV 156. Nevada 147. San José State 6 2016 MOUNTAIN WEST PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMName, Class Position InstitutionJacob DeVries, Jr. LHP Air ForceAdam Groesbeck, Jr. OF Air ForceGriffin Jax, Jr. RHP Air ForceTyler Jones, Jr. OF Air ForceAustin Guibor, Jr. OF Fresno StateTrenton Brooks, Jr. OF NevadaBryce Greager, Sr. 3B NevadaChristian Stolo, Sr. LHP NevadaDanny Collier, Jr. OF New MexicoCarl Stajduhar, So. 3B New MexicoJack Zoellner, Jr. 1B New MexicoChase Calabuig, So. OF San Diego StateKenny Oakley, Sr. RHP UNLV