By Nicole Skow

Despite a strong performance last weekend against Fresno State, the Nevada’s men baseball team couldn’t carry over the momentum into its games against San Francisco or the first game against Utah finishing 4-1 and 12-0, respectively.

The Wolf Pack faced the Dons Tuesday night and Utah the following weekend. San Francisco stole the win right from under Nevada’s nose. However, Nevada split the series with Utah after Saturday’s games were cancelled due to rain.

Tuesday night’s game was littered with pitching changes and strikeouts. The Dons scored its first run in the first inning after taking four walks from Trenton Brooks before head coach Jay Johnson subbed Mark Nowaczewski in. The rest of the night consisted of Nevada switching in six different pitchers until closer Adam Whitt came in for Colby Blueberg, with Blueberg suffering the loss after giving up one earned run.

“We have four games coming up this weekend so we cut up the game pretty good,” Johnson said. “Really for most of the night they pitched extremely well, worked out exactly how we wanted it to. We were really one pitch away from having a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth.”

Brad Gerig scored a tying homerun in the bottom of the seventh inning. He had Nevada’s two of the three hits for the night.

“I was actually trying to drag to get on because we still hadn’t had a hit at that time but (the pitcher) threw a curveball, hung it and swung and hit it,” Gerig said.

Even with the loss, Johnson was pleased with how the Pack played. Both teams struggled for the most part, and without Austin Byler, Nevada was missing a key component of its offense.

“It’s just another good reminder that it’s the team that plays the best that day in terms of throwing strikes, playing good defense and taking more good at bats usually is going to win,” Johnson said. “That’s our process. We don’t usually get ahead of ourselves with that.”

The slow play transferred into the first game against the Utes. The Pack traveled to Salt Lake City where Utah shut out the Pack 12-0 on Friday night. Pitcher Michael Fain suffered the loss, allowing seven runs. Nevada hit the ball just five times, but the issues came in errors. The Pack committed a season-high five errors in the game.

After rain canceled Saturday’s doubleheader, the Pack came back strong on Sunday. After two scoreless innings, Kewby Meyer hit a double and brought Kyle Hunt home for a run. This opened the floodgates as the Pack went on to win 11-1. Meyer tied his season highs with three hits and three RBIs. Catcher Jordan Devencenzi had two hits and drove in a game- and season-high four.

Nevada will face Sacramento State at Aces Ballpark on Wednesday. The Hornets come off winning the series against CSU Bakersfield. Then the Pack will look to sweep Air Force again as it travels to Colorado Springs.

Nicole Skow can be reached at euribe@sagebrush.unr.