SAN DIEGO - Nevada will have to go the long way if it is to capture the 2022 Mountain West title. The Pack ended up on the wrong end of a pitching duel in Thursday's tournament opener, falling 2-1 to San José State.

The Pack (28-25) will play in Friday's elimination game against the loser of Thursday night's UNLV-Air Force contest, with first pitch scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium in San Diego. Nevada will now need to win four games over three days in order to capture the conference title.

Sophomore Cam Walty turned in one of his best outings of the season for Nevada, allowing just two runs on six hits over seven innings, and working his way out of multiple two-on, less-than-two-out jams.

But San José State starter Jonathan Clark was just as dialed in. Clark held the Pack to just three hits and a run over six innings to pick up the win. Darren Jansen came on to start the seventh, and allowed just one hit over three scoreless innings to pick up his third save.

All three runs in the game came on sacrifice flies, showing how difficult runs were to come by. The Spartans opened the scoring in the first, as Charles McAdoo's one-out fly ball was enough to score Jack Colette after Colette tripled.

Nevada had its best chance of the contest in the second inning, quickly putting two aboard after Dario Gomez led off with a double before Landon Wallace drew a walk. Anthony Flores bunted the runners up a bag, but Clark escaped with just one run surrendered, getting Jacob Stinson's fly ball to right which scored Gomez, then striking out Tyler Bosetti.

San José State (29-27) would get the winner in the fourth. The Spartans put runners on the corners with none out, then, two batters later, squeezed out a run on Omar Gastelum's sacrifice fly to deep center.

Nevada's offense struggled to get runners aboard the rest of the way. After Matt Clayton's two-out single in the third, the Pack put just two more runners on the rest of the way, as Stinson was hit by a pitch in the fourth, and Ryan Jackson led off the eighth with a single, his second hit of the game.