Nevada cruised in its opening game of the Mountain West tournament against San Diego State with a 13-5 win at Santa Ana Star Field Wednesday night.
The sixth-seeded Aztecs took an early 3-0 lead after the top of the first inning, but the Wolf Pack came roaring back with six runs of their own in the bottom of the inning.
Over the next three innings, Nevada outscored SDSU 5-1 and took control of the game with an 11-4 edge after the fourth inning.
“They did a good job. I think we gave away some at-bats,” Nevada head coach T.J. Bruce said. “We have to strive to play nine innings. We did a good job but I think we can do better.”
Wolf Pack starter Christian Stolo (4-7) settled down after that rough first inning. He ended up going eight strong innings, giving up five earned runs on 10 hits to earn the win.
Infielder Jordan Pearce and catcher Justin Hazard set the pace for the Wolf Pack as both players went 3-for-4 on the day. Hazard recorded a team-best four RBIs and score one run, while Pearce had a team-high three runs with three RBIs.
“The whole offense as going today. We had 17 hits or something like that,” Pearce said. “What we preach here is put on the next guy and we did it one through nine today.”
SDSU starting pitcher Cody Thompson was able to record just one out and was pulled after giving up six runs – four of them earned – on five hits.
Prior to losing to Nevada, SDSU won on a walk-off grand slam from sophomore Justin Wylie to beat San Jose State 7-3.
No. 3 Nevada (33-22, 20-10 Mountain West) will play to No. 2 seed and host team UNM on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Wolf Pack and the Lobos split the season series 3-3.
Air Force upsets UNLV
The fifth-seeded Falcons beat down the No. 4 Rebels 15-7 in the second game of Wednesday’s triple-header at Santa Ana Star Field.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Air Force jumped out to an 8-1 lead after a five-run fourth inning and scored in every inning except three.
“I am just happy that we were able to put up a couple runs and get that cushion early,” Air Force head coach Mike Kazlausky said. “Our mentality is to attack and be very active at the plate.”
The Falcons set a Mountain West tournament record for most hits in a game with 26. They will go on to play No. 1 seed Fresno State on Thursday at 3 p.m.
Thomas Romero-Salas is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ThomasRomeroS.
