Thursday, April 24, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

White just rolling along for Rebels

Junior shortstop has played every inning this year for UNLV

By MATT YOUMANS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Peter White is hitting .298 with four home runs and 30 RBIs for the 20th-ranked UNLV baseball team this season. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

During a phase he refers to as "my rebel teen years," Peter White turned his back on the game of baseball and spent most of his time cruising around town on a set of wheels.

But he wasn't impressing his friends by driving a fast car.

"I was always skateboarding," White said. "I played Little League and then I just lost a lot of love for baseball, and I just didn't play it."

Fast forward to a new phase of his life, and White is a Rebel with a different cause. He is the only member of the UNLV baseball team to play every inning of every game this season.

The junior shortstop has helped lead the 20th-ranked Rebels (32-12, 15-3) to the top of the Mountain West Conference. They own a four-game lead on Brigham Young as the teams open a three-game series at 6:30 tonight.

White's iron-man streak is a testament to his value in the eyes of coach Jim Schlossnagle.

"He's kind of been an unsung hero," Schlossnagle said.

White has solid offensive numbers -- .298 average, four home runs, 30 RBIs and five steals in five attempts -- hitting in the ninth spot in the order. But he said he knows his work with the glove has kept him in the lineup. He has made 15 errors, a high number that Schlossnagle said is deceiving.

At 6 feet 3 inches, White has a long reach, but a quadriceps injury he has battled all season has limited his range.

"He's pretty consistent at making the routine play," Schlossnagle said. "He's not the quickest guy, but he does a good job of putting himself in position to make the play."

White is getting a second chance at UNLV. He was recruited by former Rebels coach Rod Soesbe out of Galena High School in Reno, but White came down with mononucleosis before his freshman season and transferred to American River Junior College in Sacramento, Calif.

"I got mono right as the spring started, and I didn't play real well, either," White said. "I kind of laid in bed and didn't come out to practice.

"I think I was just too immature coming out of high school. I didn't fit in real well. I couldn't even imagine right now being 18 years old and playing with these guys. I was kind of out of place, so I went to junior college and worked hard."

When Schlossnagle took over at UNLV, his top assistant, Buddy Gouldsmith, went to Sacramento and convinced White to return.

"I didn't have a negative mind about it, but I was open-minded to coming back here," White said.

He played well enough in fall practice that Schlossnagle decided to move Ryan Ruiz from shortstop to second base.

"We felt like we needed to make some changes in our middle infield. I think Ruiz can be an elite player at second, and we wanted to make that switch, and it's worked out," Schlossnagle said.

White's father, Al, played a few years in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. But it wasn't that influence that convinced White to start playing baseball again in his junior year of high school.

"I was home sick from school one day and I saw a game on television and I was like, `That looks like fun, I'll try out for the baseball team this year,' " he said.

And what happened to his skateboard? "I got rid of it," White said.