Monday, March 3, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
UNLV concluded its Desert Classic baseball tournament winning four of five games, improved its record to 12-6 and has won 10 of its past 11 games heading into Friday's Western Athletic Conference opener against BYU -- almost all of which pleases head coach Rod Soesbe.
"I'm pleased with them having won 10 out of the last 11 and we are getting better," Soesbe said. "We have an idea now what we're coming out of the pen with and guys are starting to swing the bat.
"The only thing that I told them I wasn't real happy with was our fielding percentage is not up there where it should be. I think we need to be 24 or 25 points higher. Our batting average is up, our ERA is going down, so we're doing those things well ... but we need to make the routine play."
Although the Rebels committed only one error in Sunday's 14-2 rout of Northwestern in the consolation championship game at Wilson Stadium, UNLV has 32 errors in 18 games and a .956 fielding percentage.
Freshman shortstop Curt Anthony has committed a team-leading nine errors. But what he has given away defensively he has more than made up for offensively. Anthony was 3-for-5 with a three-run home run and four RBIs Sunday to help pace UNLV's 17-hit attack.
Anthony hit .526 (10-for-19) during the five-game tournament and raised his batting average to .317. He also committed five errors.
"He's swinging the bat pretty good -- a lot better than what I expected, to be honest with you," Soesbe said of the Bishop Gorman High product. "He was a good hitter in high school, I just didn't know if he was going to be able to step up another level hitting-wise -- and that's a real pleasant surprise.
"I'm happy with his hitting, I just want him to make all the routine plays for us at short and the hitting is going to be a bonus for us -- it is a bonus for us."
Another bonus for the Rebels has been the consistency of junior infielder Ryan Hankins. The three-time All-American, who has shuttled between third base and second base because of an injury to second baseman Sean Campbell, continued his torrid hitting Sunday with three hits, including a two-run triple, and three RBIs.
In the Rebels' last six games, Hankins was 14-for-29 (.483) with 11 RBIs and raised his team-leading batting average to .424.
Junior right-hander Chris Humphries (1-0) turned in a superb outing Sunday, holding the Wildcats (1-7) to an unearned run on two hits and striking out seven in five innings. Toby Harris allowed a run on four hits in two innings of relief and Luke Anderson and Jimmy Smith each tossed one shutout inning out of the bullpen.
Armed with a .322 team batting average and a staff earned-run average of 4.78, Soesbe said he is looking forward to the Rebels opening their inaugural season in the Western Athletic Conference, which begins Friday at home with a three-game series against Brigham Young.
Cal State Northridge defeated Clemson 18-5 in Sunday's championship game and captured the Desert Classic title despite winning only two of its five games.
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