TAKE FIVE: UNLV VS. TEXAS BASEBALL

Friday, March 3, 2006 | 7:47 a.m.

When UNLV head baseball coach Buddy Gouldsmith looks across the field this evening during the first of a three-game series with defending national champion University of Texas, he won't just see one of the most successful collegiate baseball programs in the nation.

In the Longhorns, Gouldsmith will be looking at an example of the program that he hopes to create at the Maryland Parkway campus.

"We've played a great schedule ... teams that have played in (the College World Series), that consistently play in the postseason, and that's what we're trying to be," said Gouldsmith, in his third year as Rebels head coach.

"We've made the postseason the last three years, but our goals are not just to get to the postseason; our goals are to get to Omaha, and I don't think there's any better way to do that than to (play) opponents like the University of Texas and Cal State Fullerton and Pepperdine."

The Longhorns (9-6) and Rebels (4-8) will meet at 6:30 p.m. today, at 2 p.m. Saturday and at 1 p.m. Sunday at Earl E. Wilson Stadium on the UNLV campus.

1. Rich Tradition

The Longhorns defeated Florida in the title game in June in Omaha, Neb., and earned their second national championship in the past four seasons. Texas is second only to USC (with 12) in national championships.

Texas, which has advanced to the College World Series five times in the past six seasons, also won national championships in 1949, 1950, 1975, 1983 and 2002.

"Part of the reason that we scheduled them ... was to excite people in our community about college baseball," Gouldsmith said of the Longhorns. "I think people are excited about it, and I think we've got a chance to have a great crowd and gain a lot of community support."

2. Familiar face

Augie Garrido, in his 10th season as the Longhorns' head coach, is no stranger to longtime UNLV baseball fans. Garrido served two stints (1973-87 and 1991-96) as head coach at Cal State Fullerton, where he posted a 39-11 record against the Rebels while guiding the Titans to three national championships.

3. Tough schedule

UNLV's nonconference schedule includes teams that have won a combined 13 national championships: Texas (6), Cal State Fullerton (4), California (2) and Pepperdine (1).

"Certainly, if you ask me, I'd rather be 8-4 than 4-8, but we've played a great schedule," Gouldsmith said. "We've played some real good clubs both historically and currently; teams that have played in Omaha and that consistently play in the postseason."

4. Home Game?

Gouldsmith admitted that it is likely not everybody who attends this weekend's series at Wilson Stadium will be pulling for the home team.

Texas has a regular group of several hundred fans that travels with the baseball team, and a UT spokesman predicted many Longhorns supporters from Southern California might make the four-hour drive to Las Vegas for the series.

"Whether everybody who shows up is rooting for the Rebels or not, I don't know, but certainly it will be exciting," Gouldsmith said. "I would imagine they would (travel well) coming off a national championship ... and just because of some of the momentum that their athletic department has."

5. Series history

UNLV and Texas have met on the baseball diamond four times previously, and Texas has won each outing. The two programs first faced each other in the 1984 Central Regional, a 12-3 Longhorns victory, and Texas swept last season's three-game series in Austin by scores of 4-3, 7-6 and 12-3.