RENO, Nev. - The Nevada baseball team returns to Don Weir Field at Peccole Park for its second home series of the 2021 season as the Wolf Pack welcomes in Air Force for a three-game Mountain West series.

The Wolf Pack and Falcons will play a Friday/Saturday series this week, with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. scheduled for Friday and a single game also scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday to conclude the three-game set. This will mark just the second home series for Nevada this season as it opened the home portion of its schedule two weeks ago against Fresno State. Already 17 games into the 2021 season, the Wolf Pack has played 14 of those games on the road and just three in Reno.

In the Pack's most recent set of games last weekend in Albuquerque, Nevada went 1-2 against the Lobos. All three games were incredibly competitive as New Mexico had the slight edge in game one winning 6-5 in 11 innings, Nevada took a two-run lead in the top of the ninth in game two to win 9-7, and the Lobos closed the series with a 5-1 win in the series finale on Sunday.

In Nevada's victory on Saturday, and a game that featured five lead changes, the Pack came out on top of a 9-7 victory after plating the winning run in the top of the ninth. Neither team scored until the bottom of the fourth and after that there were only two more scoreless half innings in the game. The game was back and forth for much of the second half until the Pack scored four runs in the top of the eighth to take a 7-5 lead. In the eighth the Pack got RBIs from Dawson Martin, Anthony Flores and Joshua Zamora, and got some help with a wild pitch that scored Martin to give Nevada the lead. The Lobos evened things up yet again with two runs of their own in the bottom of the eighth. In just his second at-bat of the season, Brady Hormel drove in two Nevada runs in the top of the ninth to score what proved to be the game-winning runs. Shane Gustafson earned his second save of the season, shutting the door on New Mexico in the bottom of the ninth.

Head coach T.J. Bruce switched things up with his pitching rotation last weekend too as redshirt sophomore Alejandro Murillo earned his first Division I start in game one. Murillo had a solid outing in a no-decision, tossing 6.0 innings and allowing just one earned run on six hits while striking out six batters. Murillo had previously made five appearances out of the bullpen, but ranks fourth on the team with 20.1 innings pitched and is second with 21 strikeouts.

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 three games. Fans can also tune in to listen to Suchon's broadcast online at TuneIn.com or via the TuneIn app.

POP-FLYS
-Dario Gomez has reached base safely in 10 consecutive games
-Landon Wallace has a team-best active seven-game hitting streak
-Nevada leads the conference with a team ERA of 4.83
-Alejandro Murillo earned his first Division I start last weekend in game one at New Mexico
-Brady Hormel was 2-for-2 with three RBI in his first two at-bats of the season last weekend
-Dario Gomez has produced nine multiple hit games, which leads the team

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
The Wolf Pack's doubleheader against Fresno State produced some big numbers offensively for Nevada. In total between the two games the Pack scored 27 runs and collected 28 hits. In game two alone the bats exploded for 20 runs, the most runs scored by the Wolf Pack since it scored 25 also against Fresno State in May of 2016. It was also the second-most runs scored by a Mountain West team in a single game this season. 

Every starter for Nevada collected a hit, and seven players produced three hits or more. Dario Gomez led the way with five hits on the day, including his team-leading fourth home run of the season, which led to an eight-RBI outing combined between both games. Peter Mendazona also had a big day as he produced four hits, four RBI and launched his first home run of the season.

GOMEZ ON FIRE
Newcomer Dario Gomez, a redshirt sophomore transfer from San Joaquin Delta Junior College, has seemingly adjusted to Division I baseball just fine. Gomez has started in center field for the Wolf Pack in all 17 games this season and leads the team in nearly every offensive category. Not only does Gomez lead the team in most offensive categories, but he ranks highly in the Mountain West in each as well.

Against Fresno State, Gomez collected eight RBI in game two alone. It was the most RBI by a Wolf Pack player in a single game since Mike Echavia posted seven against New Mexico in 2017. It also marked the most by a Mountain West player in a single game this season and second-most in the nation. In that second game against the Bulldogs, Gomez was 4-for-5 with those eight RBI, three runs scored, a double and a home run.

MURILLO MAKES SOLID STARTING DEBUT
Redshirt sophomore Alejandro Murillo, a junior college transfer from Bakersfield College, is in the middle of a solid debut season for the Wolf Pack. The Bakersfield, Calif. native had previously made five appearances out of the bullpen before getting the call to start in game one at New Mexico last weekend. It marked Murillo's first Division I start in his career and it was a solid outing. Murillo tossed 6.0 innings in a no-decision, giving up just one earned run on six hits while striking out six. For the season he owns an ERA of 3.98 and ranks second on the team with 21 strikeouts and is fourth with 20.1 innings pitched.

Murillo spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons at Bakersfield College before transferring to Nevada. He was part of a Western State Conference championship in 2019 and was named the conference pitcher of the year in the same season. During his rookie season he posted an ERA of 3.31 with a 10-2 record and 70 strikeouts in 84.1 innings pitched.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS
After a slow start to the 2021 season, Air Force has been playing its best baseball as of late. The Falcons have won four games in a row, including a sweep of UNLV, the Mountain West's second place team, last weekend. Air Force won all three of its games against the Rebels by a close margin, taking game one 4-3, game two 10-7, and the series finale 11-10. In that series finale the Falcons used a six-run ninth inning to walk off with an 11-10 series sweeping victory. Junior Cayden Zimmerman was the hero, as his two-run double was the game winning hit for AF's first sweep of the Rebels since 2014.

The Falcons enter the weekend with a 10-8 overall record and are 4-5 in league play. Air Force is led by Cole Blatchford on offense, who is batting .354 with one home run, four doubles, 14 RBI and 11 runs scored. On the mound the Falcons are led by reliever Paul Skenes whose 2.89 ERA leads the team in his six appearances. John Byrnes currently leads the Air Force starters with a 3.90 ERA and 21 strikeouts.

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 began 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. 5 Texas, slated for mid-April.

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.

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.
 
UP NEXT
Nevada hits the road for its next five games with a conference series at San Diego State April 10-11, followed by a two-game series at No. 5 Texas April 13-14.