EDITORIAL: Home-grown success
UNLV’s baseball team on Monday did what the school’s basketball team couldn’t this season: It qualified for the NCAA tournament’s field of 64.
The Rebels received an at-large bid to the championships after losing at home Sunday to San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference tournament final. UNLV, 35-23 and the conference’s regular season co-champion, was rewarded for playing a very difficult schedule and notching a number of quality wins. It’s the university’s first appearance in the postseason since 2005, and its first under fourth-year coach Tim Chambers.
The Rebels were placed in the Corvallis, Ore., regional with the country’s top overall seed, Oregon State. UNLV, the No. 2 seed in the double-elimination regional, will first play third-seeded UC Irvine at 2 p.m. Friday.
The accomplishment of reaching the postseason is all the more special for UNLV because of all the local talent on its roster, starting with Mr. Chambers, the former coach at College of Southern Nevada and Bishop Gorman High School. He has rebuilt the Rebels by keeping top valley players home, including T.J. White, Erik VanMeetren, Erick Fedde, Brayden Torres, Bryan Bonnell, Kenny Oakley and Morgan Stotts, among others.
Congratulations to the Rebels on a great season. Here’s hoping it continues beyond this weekend.
