Preview: San Diego State at UNLV

LAS VEGAS (Interstat) — San Diego State and UNLV continue their Mountain West series at 6:35 p.m. Friday at Earl Wilson Stadium, with the heat expected to be as intense as the conference stakes.

The Aztecs (32-20) enter with a half-game lead over the Runnin’ Rebels (28-23) in the league standings. First pitch temperature is forecast at 93 degrees under clear skies.

San Diego State won Thursday’s opener behind four scoreless innings from Aidan Russell, who has not allowed a hit over his past 11 2/3 innings across four relief appearances. The right-hander has struck out 11 batters during that stretch, including three in his most recent outing Sunday against San Jose State. He last gave up a hit April 19.

UNLV shortstop Drew Barragan provides the primary counterpunch. The infielder has homered three times and driven in 11 runs over his past eight games, though he is batting .214 (6 for 28) in that span. He connected for a solo homer in Sunday’s 14-13 loss at Fresno State, matching his season high with four RBIs.

The Aztecs took the series opener 8-6, according to Interstat’s game simulator. The ELO projection gives UNLV a 54.6 percent probability of winning Friday.

San Diego State has won seven of its past nine games, dropping only a midweek contest at UC San Diego on May 5 and a 9-4 loss to San Jose State on May 9. The Aztecs’ pitching staff has a 3.42 ERA over the past 10 games.

UNLV is coming off a split of its four-game set at Fresno State, where it scored 41 runs over the first three games but allowed 27. The Runnin’ Rebels have the league’s fourth-best batting average (.282) but rank seventh in team ERA (5.77).

Friday’s game is the second of a four-game series. The teams meet again Saturday at 2 p.m.