LAS VEGAS — BYU travels south this week to Las Vegas for a midweek game with UNLV on Tuesday, May 5 at 6:05 p.m. PT at Earl E. Wilson Baseball Stadium.
BROADCAST PLANS. The game will be broadcast live on the MW Network and on the BYU Radio app, BYUradio.org, SiriusXM 143 and 107.9 FM in Utah County.
KNOW THE FOE. UNLV enters Tuesday's contest with a 26-21 record (17-11 at home) and is 7-11 in Mountain West play, good for a sixth-place tie with Grand Canyon and San Jose State. The Rebels are coming off a 2-1 series win over Milwaukee (14-4, 1-4, 8-7) in Las Vegas.
SERIES HISTORY. The Rebels and Cougars will face-off in the 151st meeting between the two former conference foes on Tuesday. BYU leads the all-time series 78-72 while UNLV has a 44-41 edge when facing the Cougars in Las Vegas. BYU won the last matchup with the Rebels 6-4 in 2024 in Las Vegas, while UNLV won the last series the two teams played as Mountain West Conference teams in 2011, 2-1.
BAT CATS. As a team, BYU enters the UNLV game hitting .280 with 62 home runs and a slugging percentage of .469. Sophomore first baseman Ezra McNaughton is hitting .342 and leads the Cougar offense in just about every statistical category. McNaughton is ranked in the top 10 in the Big 12 in hits (65), doubles (13), total bases (117) and home runs (13).
PITCHING MATCHUP. BYU will start Blade Paragas on the mound Tuesday. The redshirt freshman who is coming off injury will make his first appearance as a Cougar. Paragas is a 5-foot-11 righthander from Makaha, Hawaii.
UNLV will start righthanded pitcher Reese Lueck. The senior from Las Vegas has appeared in 11 games with two starts and has compiled a 4-1 record. Over 40.1 innings Lueck has struck out 37, while surrendering 59 hits and walking 22 batters. Opponents are hitting .337 against him.
UP NEXT. Following the UNLV game, BYU heads to Lubbock, Texas, for the final Big 12 regular-season road trip of the year against Texas Tech, May 7-9, at Rip Griffin Park. All three games of the BYU-TT series will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and on the BYU Radio app, BYUradio.org, SiriusXM 143 and 107.9 FM in Utah County.