US AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - Nevada baseball held on to win 19-18 over Air Force in a 13-inning, two-day marathon to close series at Falcon Field. Game 3 has been postponed due to inclement weather in Colorado Springs, Colo. Reschedule information will be provided at a later date.
Nevada improves to 4-5 overall and 1-1 in conference play with the extra-inning win and Air Force falls to 4-6 overall and 1-1 in the conference with the loss. It marked the first extra-inning game for both teams as the Pack improves to 1-0 on the season in such games. Due to inclement weather, the third game of the series was postponed and could be made up when Air Force comes to Reno on April 14. Make sure to follow @NevadaBaseball on Twitter for more updates on future games.
The Pack finished with seven extra-base hits including six doubles and one home run.
Pat Caulfield recorded two doubles and
Dario Gomez hit the home run for Nevada.
Tyler Bosetti stole a pair of bases and Caulfield, as well as Gomez, added one steal apiece.
Nevada grabbed an early lead with six runs in the top of the second inning. Back-to-back hit-by-pitches by
Peter Mendazona and Bosetti scored two runs with the bases loaded.
Jacob Stinson lifted a fly ball to right and
Anthony Flores scored, Caulfield singled to left scoring Mendazona, and Jacob Zamora singled scoring Caulfield to put the Pack in front 6-0 through one and a half innings.
Air Force scratched across a run in the bottom of the sixth when Jay Thomason doubled down the left-field line and Gabriel Garcia scored.
The Pack extended its lead to ten with four runs in the sixth, five runs in the seventh, and three runs in the eighth pushing the advantage to 18-8 through seven and a half innings. A two-RBI double by Gomez in the sixth and a two-RBI double by Zamora in the seventh, as well as Gomez's second home run of the year, highlighted the offensive onslaught.
Air Force scratched across three runs in the fourth, three more runs in the bottom of the sixth, and one run in the seventh. The game was suspended in the eighth inning due to darkness Friday evening and was resumed on Saturday morning in the bottom of the eighth.
Prior to the suspension, Air Force scored a run on a two-run home run by Sam Kulasingam cutting the Pack's lead to 18-10.
Air Force scored 10 runs in total in the bottom of the eighth and tied the game, 18-18.
The tie lasted until the top of the 13th when Gomez lined a single to right and Stinson scored giving the Pack a 19-18 lead, which would prove to be the final score.
Tyler Cochran (W, 1-0) earned his first win of the season after tossing a career-high 6.0 innings with one strikeout and allowing three earned runs.
Nathan Rohlicek started the game yesterday and tossed 1.0 innings, allowing one run on one walk,
Peyton Stumbo struck out two over his 3.0 innings of work,
Russell Hicks delivered 1.2 innings with three strikeouts,
Casey Burfield struck out two in 0.2 innings,
Jacob Gebb allowed two runs over 0.2 innings from the bump.
What a performance by
Pat Caulfield, going 4-for-7 with four RBI and three runs scored. The three, four, and five hitters in the lineup combined to drive in 14 of the Pack's 19 runs. Gomez drove six runs marking the second-most runs he has driven in during his career (8 at Fresno State, 3/20/21). Zamora brought in four runs during three-hit games.
In total, the Pack used eight pitchers in the 13-inning marathon that began on Friday and ended with a one-run win on Saturday.
Nevada is back in action on Friday, Mar. 11 against San Jose State on Don Weir Field at Peccole Park. The three-game series is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start on Friday.