By: Hubble Smith, Sports Editor

Centennial High School senior Will Loucks is one of those Las Vegas kids who year after year debunk national reports about Nevada’s public education system being so horrible. Loucks, a 6-foot-5-inch, 200-pound first baseman and pitcher for the Sunset Region champion Centennial Bulldogs, is headed for Massachusetts Institute of Technology on an academic scholarship. He’ll be studying to be a neurosurgeon. Nice to know student-athlete isn’t always an oxymoron.

Loucks carried a batting average around .400 and slammed three home runs for the Bulldogs. On the mound he was 4-3 with a 2.17 ERA and tallied 11 strikeouts in a playoff victory over Arbor View.

By: Hubble Smith, Sports Editor
Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ryan Ludwick doesn’t generate nearly the media hype as Bryce Harper, who was labeled “The Chosen One” when he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated at age 16 and was chosen No. 1 overall by the Washington Nationals in the 2010 Major League Baseball draft.

But it’s Ludwick, a graduate of Durango High School and standout at UNLV, who’s hitting .262 with two home runs and 15 RBIs in his 12th Major League season
and playing almost every day, while Harper is out until at least July after undergoing ligament surgery on his left thumb.

Ludwick, 35, missed much of last year after tearing cartilage in his shoulder on opening day. He seems to be playing the field with a little higher regard for his body this year, not laying out for balls as often as he did in St. Louis and San Diego.

By: Hubble Smith, Sports Editor

Zach Lutz came through with a hard grounder down the third base line in the bottom of the 10th inning to propel the Las Vegas 51s to a 5-4 win over the Tacoma Rainiers Tuesday afternoon at Cashman Field.

Lutz, who played some of 2012 and 2013 for the parent New York Mets, drove home pinch runner Kirk Nieuwenhuis from second base after Allan Dykstra had doubled off the right field wall to tie the game at four. Lutz and Dykstra each had two hits for Las Vegas.

Jeff Walters (3-2) picked up the win for Las Vegas, despite giving up the go-ahead run to Tacoma in the top of the 10th.

By: Hubble Smith, Sports Editor

It was a turbulent and disappointing year for UNLV Rebels basketball fans, who were calling for coach Dave Rice’s scalp by the end of the season.

Picked among the favorites to win the Mountain West Conference, the Runnin’ Rebels failed to live up to preseason billboard hype. First of all, they didn’t run very much, except to the lockerroom after some stinky losses.

They finished tied for third in the conference at 10-8 and were shut out of postseason tournament play for the first time in Rice’s three-year reign.