Rebels cruise in MWC tournament opener

Kyle Ringo

Thursday, May 22, 2003 | 9:58 a.m.

ALBUQUERQUE -- Coach Jim Schlossnagle has privileges on the baseball diamond most of his counterparts in the Mountain West Conference don't.

One of them will be obvious in the first inning of today's second-round game against New Mexico in the conference tournament when fastballs begin buzzing across home plate at nearly 90 mph.

Not many college baseball teams in America, let alone this conference, could trot out a pitcher the caliber of left-hander Robbie Van for the second game of a series or a tournament.

That's the enviable position the 18th-ranked Rebels and Schlossnagle find themselves in today after a dominating 10-1 triumph against Air Force in the opening game of the tournament Wednesday.

Van, who has made two starts against the Lobos this season, will be trying to knock a desperate team out of the tournament, after New Mexico lost its opener Wednesday night, 7-6, to Brigham Young.

Van has one year left in college, but expects to be selected high in next month's major-league amateur draft. If he is offered enough dead presidents, he could head for the minor leagues and bid adieu to the remainder of his college career. Today could be one of his final performances for UNLV.

"He's one of the premier left-handed pitchers in the country, and he's really been our No. 1 pitcher for most of the season," Schlossnagle said. "If he throws enough strikes, we can beat anybody we play."

Van has a stellar arm and probably the perfect personality type to go with it. He's a perfectionist, who is rarely satisfied with the outcome of a game or a pitch. He's just the guy Schlossnagle wants on the mound against a team the Rebels have beaten five of six times this season and could easily be caught overlooking.

"I'm never going to be happy with the way I pitch," Van said. "That's just how I am. I'm always striving to have the best outings every time out."

Van has struggled in his two outings against New Mexico this spring, walking 10 batters in 10 innings while surrendering 10 hits and seven runs. The trick is locating the fastball and working from there.

That approach worked well for the Rebels' starter Wednesday.

Freshman Matt Luca returned to action for the first time in 11 days after battling tendinitis in his throwing arm. Luca threw five innings against the Falcons, tossing 93 pitches and allowing one earned run while improving to 5-0. Schlossnagle visited Luca on the mound twice in the early going, but he persevered. Ben Scheinbaum pitched four scoreless innings of relief, but might not be available for work for a while.

"We may have burned Scheinbaum for the weekend, but you've got win," Schlossnagle said.

Five Rebels had multihit games against three Falcons pitchers. Shortstop Peter White, who blasted his 10th home run of the season to left field in the fourth inning, had three RBIs, as did center fielder Pat Dobson.

"I just kind of got under it and got lucky," White said.