IRVINE, Calif. – After scoring three early runs, the Nevada baseball team (0-2) could not sustain its lead over UC Irvine (2-0) on Saturday afternoon. Three members of the Wolf Pack recorded an RBI on the day.
Taylor Rashi (1-0) earned the win after pitching four innings allowing only one hit. Nevada's Austin Dick (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing a hit and an earned run in 1.2 innings pitched.
The first inning started strong for the Pack, with freshman Joshua Zamora drawing a leadoff walk and eventually making his way to third base thanks to a bunt from Conor Allard and a wild pitch by UCI. Mike Echavia smacked a single into right field to score Zamora and Nevada's first run of the season to give it a 1-0 lead over the Anteaters.
In his first start as a member of the Pack, Ty Hueckman ran into trouble early when he had runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom of the first. The sophomore was able to get out of the inning cleanly with the help of Cole Krzmarzick, who robbed extra bases from the Anteaters with a leaping catch into the fence to end the frame.
The hot offensive start for the Pack carried into the second inning, as sophomore transfer Daniel Perry singled in his first at-bat with two outs. Freshman Tyler Bosetti would follow it up by hitting a double down the left field line to drive him home. Zamora would come up next and immediately knock Bosetti in to make the score 3-0 in favor of the Pack.
The Anteaters responded in the bottom of the third by chasing Hueckman with no outs and the bases loaded. Cooper Powell would replace him and minimize the damage by getting out of the inning only allowing two runs to keep Nevada ahead by one.
Nevada had a chance in the fourth after Kaleb Foster and Perry were walked with only one out, but the Pack could not capitalize offensively. Powell continued to deal, pitching perfect innings in both the fourth and fifth frames.
UCI came back to tie the game in the sixth, when pinch hitter Brendan Brooks hit a sacrifice fly out to right field that allowed Parker Coss to score from third.
The Pack's offense remained stagnant for much of the game until Grant Fennell recorded a single in the eighth inning. The senior was the first Nevada player to record a hit in 20 batters. Fennell was unable to cross home plate and regain the lead for the Pack as Krzmarzick struck out to end the inning.
The first extra-base hit of the day for the Anteaters came in the bottom of the eighth by Ryan Fitzpatrick off of Dick, who would end up scoring the game-winning run off an RBI-double by Jacob Castro. Castro's hit came off of Weston Hatten, who came out of right field to pitch the final third of the eighth inning.
The top of the ninth inning showed promise, with Foster drawing a leadoff walk and Dillan Shrum getting hit to put two runners on. With two members of the Pack in scoring position, Zamora stepped to the plate with two outs but struck out swinging to end the game.
Foster leads the Pack with a .429 batting average in seven plate appearances and a .571 slugging percentage. Powell holds a team-best 2.25 ERA after pitching four innings in relief today.
Nevada will play the Anteaters tomorrow in the series finale in Irvine at 1 p.m. Audio of the game will be available both online and on NBC Sports Radio 94.1 FM and 1450 AM.
