AUSTIN, Texas – A valiant effort against No. 3 Texas came up just short for the Nevada baseball team as the Wolf Pack fell to the Longhorns by the final score of 4-3.
The Wolf Pack (10-14) hung with the nation's third-ranked team the entire game, getting outstanding pitching along the way. The Longhorns (26-8) jumped out to a 3-0 lead early on after three innings of play, but the Nevada bullpen was nearly unstoppable the rest of the way, giving up just one additional run in the fifth. True freshman
Blake Bambrick relieved starter
Shane O'Malley in the fourth and gave up just one run in his 1.1 innings of work.
Shane Gustafson took over in the fifth and threw the remaining 3.2 innings and was electric, surrendering just one hit to the Longhorns the rest of the game.
For the Nevada offense the Pack got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth as
Matt Clayton drove in
Dario Gomez from third on a sacrifice fly to right. The Wolf Pack got within one in the very next half inning, scoring one more run in the fifth on a
Jacob Stinson infield single that plated
Wyatt Tilley. The Longhorns brought their final run of the game across in the bottom of the fifth, extending their lead to 4-2 with four innings remaining.
The Pack made some noise in the top of the eighth, leading off the frame with a single from
Joshua Zamora. With one gone in the eighth,
Dillan Shrum stepped in and nearly tied the ball game with an RBI triple off the center field wall that allowed Zamora to score and brought Nevada within one run. Texas was able to get back-to-back groundouts though to end the Wolf Pack threat in the eighth and preserve its one-run lead. Nevada got one runner aboard in the top of the ninth but could not bring that runner around to score, sealing the victory for the Longhorns.
Nevada edged its opponent in hits, collecting seven hits to the Longhorns six. Shrum and Stinson combined for four of the Pack's seven hits in the game as they each recorded two.
Nevada and Texas will play the final game of this two-game series tomorrow evening with first pitch scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PT.
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