University of Nevada Athletics

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Team & Player Notes

Nevada Plays Final WAC Road Series At Sacramento State
 The University of Nevada (27-18-1, 8-7-1 WAC) will play its final Western Athletic Conference road series of the season at Sacramento State (16-29-1, 5-11 WAC) this weekend starting Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Hornet Field.  Saturday's doubleheader gets underway at 11:30 a.m. with Sunday's finale scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
 Currently the Wolf Pack is in third place in the WAC standings with a 8-7-1 mark and the Hornets are seventh at 5-11.  The two teams are separated by three and one half games.  Louisiana Tech is one half game behind the Pack at 10-10 with Hawai'i and San Jose State tied for fifth at 6-10.  Fresno State at 11-5 and New Mexico State at 13-6-1 are first and second respectively.
 The Hornets won three of the four games played in Reno last season.  Since joining the WAC Nevada leads the series 10-7 and overall are 67-33 versus the Hornets.  In the last series played in Sacramento during the 2007 season the Wolf Pack won two of the three games. 
 This weekend will mark the final home games for longtime Sacramento State head coach John Smith who will retire at the end of the season after 32 years as skipper of the Hornets.

TEAM:  Nevada's 27 wins this season surpassed its 2009 total of 25...The Pack have played long 12 inning games each of the last two Sunday's downing Hawai'i(5/2) 8-7 in 4:33 on the road and falling to SJSU(5/9) at home 6-4 in 4:21...Nevada won its first WAC series of the season going 3-1 vs. SJSU after splitting its last two going 2-2 at Hawai'i and vs. Fresno State while posting a 1-2-1 mark at NMSU the opening weekend...Nevada has taken advantage of the 10-run rule four times this season with three coming in WAC play, 17-2 at NMSU, 17-6 vs. FS and 14-4 vs. FS while being 10-runned once in 8 innings at NMSU 17-7...Nevada's 2.8 doubles per game ranks 7th in NCAA I with its 129 doubles ranking 13th, the Pack are 11th with 22 triples and 10th in triples per game at .48 while ranking 27th with a slugging percentage of .524...Nevada has swept two series this season with both coming vs. Seattle at home and on the road going 6-0 against the Redhawks...Nevada's 22 runs at Seattle on Apr. 17 was a season high...The Pack's 10-10 tie at NMSU on Apr. 11 was the first for Nevada since a 1-1 tie with Santa Clara during the 1993 season...The NMSU tie was the fifth for Nevada head coach Gary Powers in 28 seasons as a Division I coach for the Wolf Pack ...After two weather postponements Powers coached his 1,500th game at Nevada vs. Seattle on Apr. 2 which was a 12-10 victory...Nevada won its 400th game at Peccole Park with a 5-4 victory over Seattle on Apr. 4...Nevada's 64 stolen bases leads the WAC and is more 24 more than LA Tech's 40...Nevada won 2-of-3 games from #18 UC Irvine...Powers is in his 28th season and is the longest tenured coach in the history of Nevada athletics...Powers won his 800th game at Nevada last season when the Pack defeated Oregon 6-5 on March 12, 2009...Nevada ranks fourth in hitting (.318), second in pitching (5.32ERA) and third in fielding (.966) in the WAC... In WAC play the Pack are second in hitting at .348, first in pitching with a 5.99 ERA and fourth in fielding at .974...Nevada was picked to finish 6th in the preseason coaches' poll.

AT THE PLATE:  1B-Shaun Kort broke the career school doubles record last week and currently has 70 and is 5 games from breaking the games played record of 225...Nevada boasts four of the top 8 hitters in WAC play in LF/DH-Nick Melino(.478,1st), Kort(.453,2nd), 2B-Cullen Mahoney(.432,3rd) and OF-Brian Barnett(.403,8th) as all four are batting over .400 in conference play...Melino is batting .523(23-of-44) with 12 runs scored, 7 doubles, 3 home runs and 16 RBI during a currrent 11-game hit streak which is his second 11-game hit streak in the last 23 games and the longest of the season by Pack hitter...Melino hit .500(20-for-40) with 10 runs scored, 11 RBI, 5 doubles and a home run during the first 11-game hit streak that ended vs. FS(4/23)...Since being inserted into the starting lineup the last 23 games Melino is batting .494(43-of-87) with 22 runs scored, 13 doubles, 4 home runs and 28 RBI with a .782 slugging percentage and a .564 on base percentage, producing 14 multi hit and 8 multi RBI games...Melino leads in conference play in with a .476 batting average,  a .548 on base percentage is tied for first being hit by pitch 7 times along with ranking in the top 10 in 2 additional categories...Kort's 2-out single scored 3B-Garrett Yrigoyen with the winning run in the top of the 12th at Hawai'i and Yrigoyen singled home the tying run in the top of the 9th with 2 down...Kort started the FS series with hits in his first 8 at bats going 3-for-3 in game 1 and 5-for-5 in game 2 before walking his first three plate appearances in game 3 before being retired...Kort's stretch of hits in consecutive at bats was 9 dating back to the final game at Seattle...Melino(.548), Mahoney(.526) and Kort(.526)  are the top three in on base percentage in WAC play...Rodland tied his career high with 5 hits going 5-for-7 with 2 runs scored, a double and an RBI at Hawai'i(5/2)...Rodland and Kort have each collected 5 hits in game this season which is the high by a Pack batter...SS-Kevin Rodland hit .390(16-for-41) with 15 runs scored, 13 RBI, 4 doubles, a triple and 3 home runs during a 10-game hit streak that ended at Seattle(4/17) and is the second longest streak by Pack player...OF-Brian Barnett earned April 12-18 Hitter of the Week honors...Kort's 21 doubles leads the WAC is 19th in NCAA I and 0.46 per game is 27th while Barnett's 18 doubles is 74th and 0.39 per game is 100th in the nation...Rodland tops the WAC being hit by pitch 17 times which is 30th in NCAA and .37 per game is 44th...DH/P-Brock Stassi is tied for the WAC lead with 5 triples...Stassi is 35th in triples with 5 and 45th in triples per game at .12 in NCAA I with his .698 slugging percentage ranking 73rd...Stassi earned WAC and Collegebaseballinsider.com West Region Player of the Week honors twice this season on Feb. 15-21 and Mar.  23-29 and recently added Apr. 12-18 WAC Pitcher of the Week honors ...Stassi and reserve OF-Jamison Rowe both hit grand slams in the Pack's 22-0 victory at Seattle(4/18)...Rodland, Moss and Kort have started all 46 games this season...Rodland has batted leadoff in all 46 games...Moss (18-of-22) and Rodland(14-of-16) rank first and second in the WAC with 18 and 14 stolen bases respectively...Barnett, Kort, Rodland and Stassi have 49, 48, 35 and 32 RBI respectively to lead the team...Stassi's 32 and Rodland's 35  RBI are new career highs...Barnett leads the team with 11 home runs while Kort, Stassi and Rodland have 7 each which are career highs for all three...Moss leads the outfield with 7 assists ...OF-Waylen Sing Chow has seen action 18 of the last 22 games, 17 off the bench...IF/OF-Nick Leid has started 26 games, 4 at second base, 5 in left field, 16 at third base and one at DH...Leid hit .419(13-for-31) with 9 runs scored, 8 RBI, 5 doubles and a home run during an 8-game hit streak that is the 5th longest by a Pack player...Moss hit .351(13-for-37) and Stassi .429(15-for-35) during 9-game hit streaks that ended vs. SMC(4/13) which is tied for the third longest on the team...Barnett  leads the team with 21multi hit games, Kort has 19 and Stassi 18...Barnett and Kort have 12 multi RBI games and Stassi 10...Rodland has been hit by pitch 17 times to lead the WAC while, Melino is second with 13 and Stassi is fourth with 10...Moss hit his first home run at any level of baseball in game 2 at Pacific (2/26) then added a 2-run shot at NMSU(4/10)...OF-Ronnie Mitchell was 3-for-5, with two doubles in his first collegiate start in right field in the final game of the Pacific series...Mitchell has started 12 games in right field...Sophomore IF-Joe Kohan has started 19 games at second base and 2 at third base...Mahoney has started 16 of the last 19 games at second base, played in all 19 and is hitting .386(22-for-57) with 18 runs scored, 5 doubles, 4 triples, 3 home runs and 20 RBI in the 19 games...Yrigoyen has started 11 of the last 12 games at third base and is hitting .350(14-for-40) with 8 runs scored, 4 doubles, 2 triples, a home run and 14 RBI in the 12 games...C-Michael Turay has started 26 games behind the plate, with freshmen Carlos Escobar starting 14 and Shawn Walters six...Escobar has his a home run in the last 3 games which are all starts.

ON THE MOUND:  Nevada is 20-12 when the weekend's scheduled pitchers start on the mound: LHP-Chris Garcia (8-2), RHP-Tom Jameson (3-3), RHP-Jeremy Cole (5-2) and LHP-Brock Stassi(4-5)...Cole was named May 3-9, WAC Pitcher of the Week after allowing 3 hits in tossing a 5-0 shutout vs. SJSU facing just 3 hitters over the minumum...Cole has pitched 3 consecutive complete games and has a 2-1 record with a 1.80 ERA  in the 3 games...Cole is 58th in NCAA I in hits allowed per 9 innings at 7.66 and is 63rd with his 2.89 ERA...Jameson pitched his first complete game and the first 9-inning complete game by a Pack pitcher this season in a 10-2 victory over SJSU(5/8) allowing 2 runs on 6 hits to improve to 3-1...Stassi was named Apr. 12-18, WAC Pitcher of the Week after allowing a run on 2 hits in 8 innings as the Pack won 4-1 at Seattle(4/18)...LHP-Chris Garcia struckout a career-high 9 in his victory at Hawai'i(4/30) allowing 1 run on 5 hits in 7 innings...Cole (3-1) lost for the first time allowing 1 run on 3 hits in a 1-0 loss at Hawai'i tossing his second complete game in a row...Garcia tossed 5 no hit innings and Jameson pitched 4 innings of one hit ball as the duo combined on a one-hit 22-0 shutout at Seattle(4/17)...Garcia leads the team with 6 wins which is tied for first in the WAC while Stassi has 5 and Cole 4...Stassi has pitched 2 complete games...Stassi pitched a gem at NMSU allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and struck out 7 in the 17-2, 7-inning complete game victory...Stassi struck out a career-high 11 in a 1-0 victory at CSUB(3/13) tossing 7 shutout innings...Cole(2.89ERA), Stassi(3.84ERA) and Garcia(4.22) rank 2nd, 3rd and 5th in the WAC in ERA...Cole(.226), Garcia(.255) and Stassi(.260) are 1st, 3rd and 5th in opponent batting average in the conference...RHP-Beau Witsoe has 2 saves and 3 wins on the season...RHP-Tyler Graham leads the team and is tied for 3rd in the WAC with 4 saves while Witsoe, Cole and Jameson are second on the team and tied for 8th in the conference with 2 each...RHP-Jesse Rasner has a 1.38 ERA in WAC playing pitching 13 innings with 10 strikeouts and in his last 6 outings has a 1.23 ERA in 14.2 innings...Graham tops the Pack with 15 appearances while RHP-Jayson McClaren, Cole, Witsoe and LHP-Mat Keplinger have 14...Keplinger's loss at NMSU was his first decision in 3 seasons at Nevada ...RHP-Rickey Denham has made 4 starts this season...Nine different pitchers have earned wins this year...Pack pitchers have allowed 31-of-86(36%) of inherited runners to score.