Rebels Clinch Mountain West Tournament Berth With Dominant Win Over Air Force

Originally posted on UNLV Rebels on SI
By Mark Morales-Smith | Last updated May 19, 2025 9:09 AM ET

The UNLV Hustlin' Rebels baseball team earned a huge victory on Friday night. While knocking off the Air Force Falcons 10 - 4 in a route, the Rebels secured their spot in the 2025 Credit Union 1 Mountain West Baseball Tournament. They locked up their spot in the tournament on their home field of Earl E. Wilson Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. It came down to the final series of the regular season, but the Rebels will now be making their first Mountain West Conference Tournament since 2022. Their 30-22 overall record and 15-14 conference record was enough to get the job done and punch their ticket.

Your fourth-seeded Hustlin’ Rebels will face fifth-seeded San Diego State on Wednesday at 6:05 pm!!!#MWBSB https://t.co/XoRY7TCXR5
— UNLV Baseball ⚾️ (@unlvbaseball) May 17, 2025

Rebels head coach Stan Stolte is very happy his team made the tournament, however, following Friday's game he made it very clear what his goals are for the team, so there won't be any celebrating just yet.

"Glad that we are going to continue to play next week in the conference tournament, but by no means are we going to celebrate it," Stolte said. "We are very happy that we took a 5-10 conference record at the halfway point and turned that around by winning 10 out of our last 14 conference games. Assistant coaches, players, support staff, everyone involved were all in as one and got after it.

Friday's game was blown open in the bottom of the third inning in which outfielder Dean Toigo extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a massive home run with infield Cooper Sheff adding a home run of his own in the blowout win. UNLV also had a much less significant game on Saturday in the series finale. The Rebels knocked off the Falcons in that game by a final score of 9 - 8. While a win is a win, the much more important news is that UNLV is headed for the postseason.