RENO, Nev. - The Nevada baseball team is set to begin its 2021 season this weekend with a four-game series at Cal Poly.

It has been nearly 365 days since the Wolf Pack last took the field for a game with the cancelation of the 2020 season after just 14 games. Nevada's last game was March 11, 2020, an 11-1 loss to Saint Mary's. This weekend though the Pack is back with four games against the Mustangs of Cal Poly, beginning this Friday, Feb. 19. The Wolf Pack and Mustangs will play a single game each day from Friday to Monday to open both team's seasons.

Cal Poly Schedule
Friday, Feb. 19 - 6 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 20 - 6 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 21 - 1 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 22 - 3 p.m.

These four games at Cal Poly are part of a 48-game schedule for the Wolf Pack in 2021, however with San Jose State's recent announcement that its baseball program will not compete until the end of March, and with Nevada scheduled to play the Spartans March 6-7, that will shift a few games for Nevada. Conference play is coming up quickly for the Wolf Pack as it will head to Las Vegas to play three games at UNLV for its second series of the season, Feb. 27-28. League action will look a little differently this year than it has in the past with day one of each conference series featuring a doubleheader, followed by a single game the next day.

As for the Pack's non-conference schedule, Nevada has built up a very competitive non-league calendar with trips to Cal Poly, which earned wins over No. 1 Vanderbilt and No. 5 Michigan last season, and to baseball powerhouses like USC, No. 9 Texas, No. 2 UCLA and a home-and-home series with Arizona State. Nevada will begin the season though with a heavy road schedule, with its first 11 games played outside of Reno. The Pack will open its home schedule March 20-21 with a MW series against Fresno State.

Also unique to this season is the program's roster size, which can be unlimited in size restrictions for 2021. Nevada will carry 46 on its roster in 2021, including five "super" seniors, whose eligibility was set to exhaust last season but with an extra year of eligibility given by the NCAA due to last year's cancelation of much of the season, those five were able to return. Those five "super" seniors include first baseman Dillan Shrum, who led the team in batting average and homeruns in 2020, shortstop Wyatt Tilley, catcher Marco Valenzuela, and pitchers Shane Gustafson and Ben Purcell.

ON THE AIR
Josh Suchon will have the call in Northern Nevada on CBS Sports Radio 94.1 FM and 1450 AM with a 20 minute pregame show prior to first pitch for all four games. Fans can also tune in to listen to Suchon's broadcast online at TuneIn.com or via the TuneIn app.
 
All four games will also be live streamed on BigWest.TV.

POP-FLYS
-Nevada was picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West this season
-Joshua Zamora and Owen Sharts were selected as members of the Preseason All-MW team
-Nevada will play its first 11 games of the season on the road
-Joshua Zamora was named the 22nd best third baseman in college baseball by D1Baseball
-Head coach T.J. Bruce begins his sixth season leading the Wolf Pack
-Nevada has five "super" seniors on this year's team, those who were seniors last season but were granted an extra year of eligibility due to the 2020 season being canceled
-Before Nevada's first game on Friday, it will have been 345 days since the Wolf Pack's last game

PACK PICKED TO FINISH FIFTH IN MW STANDINGS
Nevada has been slated to finish fifth in the Mountain West Preseason Poll that was released on Feb. 11, 2021. San Diego State was selected as the preseason Mountain West favorite as the Aztecs received six first place votes. Fresno State garnered one first place vote and was picked to finish in the runner-up spot. New Mexico and UNLV were tied for third place, followed by Nevada, Air Force and San Jose State.

ZAMORA AND SHARTS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-MW
The Mountain West announced its 2021 preseason baseball all-conference selections on Feb. 11 with Nevada's Joshua Zamora and Owen Sharts earning a spot on the 13-person team.
 
For Zamora, this is his third consecutive preseason All-MW honor. The California native has batted .324 during his time at Nevada, which includes two full seasons and 14 games in a shortened 2020 season. In his career he has recorded 148 hits, 27 doubles, two triples, 17 homeruns, and 73 RBI in his 116 games played. In 2018 he was named the MW Freshman of the Year and followed that up with an All-MW Second Team selection in 2019.
 
This is the first preseason all-conference honor for Sharts, who is entering his junior season. In a shortened 2020 campaign, Sharts led the Wolf Pack and the Mountain West with 32 strikeouts in four games played. His best performance last season was an 11-strikeout game in seven innings against Hofstra. Additionally, Sharts struck out at least eight batters in three of his four starts. In his career, which spans 18 appearances and 90 innings pitched, he owns an ERA of 5.70 with 72 strikeouts.

NEWBIES
With the unlimited roster size that is permissable this season, the Wolf Pack boasts a large number of returners, but also a large number of newcomers. Nevada will have 22 newcomers on its roster in 2021, including 17 freshmen and five junior college transfers. Of those 22 newcomers eight are either starting or relief pitchers, six are infielders, five play outfield, two are catchers and there is one utility player.

WE WANT ZAMORA THAT
Redshirt junior Joshua Zamora was honored by D1 Baseball earlier this offseason, being ranked as the 22nd-best third baseman in college baseball. His pedigree speaks for itself, as Zamora has boasted a career-batting average of .324 with 27 doubles, 17 homers, 73 RBI and a .503 slugging percentage. 

In his first season, he was awarded the second Mountain West Freshman of the Year honor in Wolf Pack baseball history as well as Freshman All-American honors. In 2019, he was named second-team All-MW as well as being selected to the All-MW Tournament team.

HIGH NON-CONFERENCE STANDARDS
The Nevada baseball team could very well boast one of the best non-conference schedules among Mountain West teams in 2021, and perhaps one of the best in the nation. The Wolf Pack begins its season on the road at Cal Poly, which earned wins over No. 1 Vanderbilt and No. 5 Michigan last season, and will also square up against Pac-12 schools such as USC on the road and a home-and-home series with Arizona State. Perhaps the two headline grabbing opponents on this year's non-conference schedule are a single game at No. 2 UCLA on May 18, and a two-game set on the road at No. 9 Texas, slated for mid-May.

The last time the Wolf Pack faced a top 25 opponent was in April of 2019 when Nevada swept a two-game series against then No. 2 Oregon State, the 2018 NCAA National Champions. Both games were set for dramatics as the Pack walked-off for both wins in extra innings, including a walk-off home run in game two.

When the Pack faces No. 2 UCLA on May 18 it will be a homecoming of sorts for head coach T.J. Bruce, who served as an assistant coach on the Bruins coaching staff under current UCLA head coach John Savage from 2011-15.

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Nevada's 2021 season will begin with a four-game series against the Cal Poly Mustangs, with all four games being played at the Baggett Stadium in San Luis Obispo, Calif. In a shortened 2020 season, Cal Poly went 5-11 overall but those five wins included victories over No. 1 Vanderbilt and No. 5 Michigan. Cal Poly was picked to finish fourth in the Big West in 2021, despite three consecutive second place finishes in the Big West standings. Cal Poly returns 20 lettermen, including eight position starters and 10 pitchers, off last year's squad.

Senior catcher Myles Emmerson was the team's top hitter a year ago with a .317 average. Also returning are junior outfielder Cole Cabrera (.274) and junior third baseman Tate Samuelson (.254), making the switch from first base this spring. Topping the pitching staff are freshman right-hander Drew Thorpe, who led the team with 31 strikeouts in four starts, and junior southpaw Andrew Alvarez. The roster also has been bolstered by three Boise State transfers -- first baseman Joe Yorke, outfielder Reagan Doss and southpaw Travis Weston, who also will be in the weekend rotation -- and one from Washington State in infielder Matt Lopez.

UP NEXT
Nevada will begin Mountain West action very soon into the start of the season as it will head to Las Vegas to take on in-state rival UNLV for three games Feb. 27-28.