Tough schedule big obstacle for UNLV baseball team
Tim Chambers, who experienced enormous success in the Las Vegas high school ranks and at College of Southern Nevada, knew he had a rebuilding job on his hands at UNLV.
Just how much of a job, however, didn’t become clear until last baseball season when the Rebels went 26-31 in Chambers’ second season. They were 33-25 the year before.
“I didn’t realize where we were at when I got the job,” he said. “The boss (athletic director Jim Livengood) told me a number of times, ‘It’s going to take you five years.’ You know me, I refused to believe him.”
This season, which begins at 6 p.m. today when UNLV opens a four-game series against Tennessee at Wilson Stadium, might not be much easier.
The Rebels have 16 underclassmen, and they must try to wade through a brutal schedule. In addition to opening against a Southeastern Conference opponent, UNLV faces ranked teams Stanford, Arizona State and San Diego as well as Brigham Young.
And then there is the Mountain West schedule. The Rebels were picked to finish fifth in the six-team Mountain West. New Mexico is the favorite.
But Chambers said a tough schedule should make the team better in the long run, even if the record doesn’t reflect that improvement.
“The whole schedule’s tough,” Chambers said. “I was looking at the schedule and going, ‘Where are the wins?’ It’s the toughest schedule that UNLV has had in baseball, I think, in seven or eight years. We do that for a reason. We’d rather play the really good teams and find out where we’re really at.”
UNLV does have some reasons for optimism. The Rebels showed promise at the end of last year’s regular season by winning five of their final seven games before going 0-2 in the conference tournament.
That late surge showed the returning players they have something tangible to build around.
“I think we just got nervous in the conference tournament,” senior outfielder/pitcher Mark Shannon said. “I don’t know why. We started playing together (late in the season). Our chemistry was great at the end of the year.”
That chemistry has carried over, and even includes the newcomers. Players, newcomers and veterans routinely show up early to practice to get in some individual work.
Senior outfielder Brandon Bayardi, the team’s only preseason all-conference selection, noticed.
“Everybody has the same mentality of getting that goal … of making a regional, and continuing to go in the playoffs,” Bayardi said. “I just want to win. I’ve been here for three years. I’ve just wanted to make a regional this whole time.”
UNLV last made an NCAA regional in 2005.
Bayardi won the team triple crown last season, leading the Rebels in batting average (.361), home runs (seven) and RBIs (53). He also stole a team-high 12 bases.
Offense wasn’t UNLV’s problem. The Rebels were second in the Mountain West with a .297 average, third with 29 homers and second with 336 RBIs.
UNLV was in the middle of the pack in pitching, with a 4.91 ERA. The Rebels won’t improve as a team unless that number gets better.
Right-hander Erick Fedde, a Las Vegas High School graduate, became the ace as a freshman last season. He often could be depended upon for a quality outing, going 6-5 with a 3.59 ERA, and registering a team-best 66 strikeouts.
Fedde will be counted on to stabilize a young staff that could face some difficult times against a tough schedule.
“It’s either going to make or break us, depending on how we deal with it,” Fedde said. “What’s really going to decide how well the season goes is how well we bounce back from it.”
Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.
