Nevada (0-0) at Abilene Christian (0-0)
Friday-Monday, Feb. 17-20
Abilene, Texas - Crutcher Scott Field

Friday - 2:05 p.m. PT
Kade Morris (0-0) vs. Tyler Morgan (0-0)
TV/Stream: ESPN+
Listen: KPLY 630 AM // The Varsity Network
Live Stats

Saturday - 12:05 p.m. PT
Jason Doktorczyk (0-0) vs. Rolando De La Cruz (0-0)
TV/Stream: WACinternational.tv
Listen: KHIT 94.1 FM/1450 AM
Live Stats

Sunday - 12:05 p.m. PT
Casey Burfield (0-0) vs. Breck Eichelberger (0-0)
TV/Stream: WACinternational.tv
Listen: KPLY 630 AM // The Varsity Network
Live Stats

Monday - 10:05 a.m. PT
TBD vs. TBD
TV/Stream: ESPN+
Listen: KPLY 630 AM // The Varsity Network
Live Stats

RENO, Nev. - Nevada Baseball begins the Jake McKinley Era this weekend, opening the 2023 campaign under the new skipper with a four-game series at Abilene Christian.

The series starts with Friday's 2:05 p.m. PT first pitch, with Saturday's and Sunday's contests set for 12:05 p.m. PT starts, and Monday's get-away game beginning at 10:05 a.m. PT.

Friday's and Monday's contests will be streamed on ESPN+, with Saturday's and Sunday's contests available to watch at wacinternational.tv.

Friday's, Sunday's, and Monday's games will be broadcast locally in Reno on KPLY 630 AM, and online through The Varsity Network app. Saturday's contest will air locally on KHIT 94.1 FM and 1450 AM. Josh Suchon will be on the call for the series.

ABOUT ABILENE CHRISTIAN
Abilene Christian went 30-29 a season ago, and reached the WAC Championship title game, falling just shy of an NCAA Regional bid. The Wildcats, after going 14-16 over the WAC regular season, won four straight, including back-to-back wins over top-seeded Grand Canyon, after dropping its opening game of the WAC Championship. Abilene Christian would fall to New Mexico State, 7-1, in the WAC title game.

The Wildcats return two of its top three hitters from 2022 in Bash Randle (.324, 69 hits, 8 HR, 43 RBIs) and Tanner Tweedt (.320, 63 hits, six HR, 49 RBIs), as well as its home run and RBI leader in Grayson Tatrow (.285, 17 HR, 66 RBIs). On the mound, Tyler Morgan (16 GS, 6-5, 4.92, 82 K, 75.0 IP) and Adam Stephenson (12 GS, 3-3, 6.24, 50 K, 53.1 IP) return from last season's rotation.

This weekend's series will be the second all-time between the Wolf Pack and Wildcats, and first in eight years. Back in 2015, the Pack swept a three-game set from Abilene Christian, capping it with a 3-2 victory.

HOME IN MARCH
Nevada will spend the first two weekends of the season on the road, heading to Riverside, Calif., next week to face host Cal Baptist and High Point for two games apiece.

The Pack will then play 12 of its 19 games in March at home, beginning with a four-game set against Hofstra from March 3-5 at Peccole Park.

JAKE McKINLEY NAMED WOLF PACK SKIPPER
Jake McKinley, who pent the past four seasons (2019-22) with the Milwaukee Brewers and has more than a decade of collegiate coaching experience, was named the Nevada head baseball coach July 2, 2022.

McKinley had served as the Brewers' Vice President of Player Development since 2021, having previously served as the organization's Director of Player Development Initiatives (2019-21) and minor league pitching coordinator (2018-19). He oversees player development strategies throughout the entire organization, as well as oversight of all minor-league coordinators. The Brewers have made the playoffs in each of McKinley's seasons with the club, capturing the National League Central Division pennant in 2018 and 2021, and earning wild card berths from 2019-20.

Prior to joining the Brewers' organization, McKinley spent 13 years in the collegiate ranks, including five seasons as a head coach (2014-17 at Menlo College; 2018 at William Jessup). At Menlo College, McKinley won 131 games over his four seasons at the helm, becoming the program's all-time winningest head coach. The following season, he inherited a William Jessup team that had won just 10 games the previous year, and guided it to a 41-17 campaign, marking, at the time, the largest single-season turnaround in college baseball history.

Student-athletes during McKinley's tenure at Menlo College received honors in multiple categories, among them 2017 GSAC Player of the Year (Jordan Getzelman) and Pitcher of the Year (Jason Alexander). Other accolades include 12 All-Conference honorees, six NAIA All-Americans, four NAIA Academic All-Americans, six Scholar-Athletes, and two Capital One Academic All-District selections.

Four of his Menlo players were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft and McKinley was recognized as MLB Scouts Northern California College Coach of the Year in 2016. Of those four draftees, two were selected in the Top 10 rounds, most notably Lucas Erceg who was selected 46th overall by the Brewers. One player from his 2018 William Jessup team was selected in the draft, while another signed with the Brewers as a free agent.

In four years as a head coach, McKinley saw 13 former players go on to play professional baseball after being drafted or signing as a free agent.

MORRIS NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST TEAM
RHP Kade Morris returns for his junior season in 2023, following a breakout campaign a year ago. He earned the first accolade of the new season earlier in February, being named to the 13-player Preseason All-Mountain West Team.

Morris was named to the All-Mountain West Second Team in 2022, wrapping up a strong sophomore campaign in which he made 18 appearances (four starts) and posted a 7-5 record with three saves, and 53 strikeouts over 66.2 innings of work. He began the season as the team's bullpen ace, and moved into the weekend rotation in the season's final month, capping a 5-2 record in Mountain West action with three saves, and 29 strikeouts over 41.1 innings of work.

Over his four starts, all against Mountain West teams, he won three, going at least eight innings in each of the victories, while striking out 13.

MORRIS COMING OFF USA BASEBALL INVITE
Kade Morris is also on the national radar after his stellar sophomore campaign, earning an invite to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Training Camp from June 30-July 4 in North Carolina. Morris and the rest of the 48-man roster, made up of non-draft-eligible college players, played a five-game intrasquad series with contests in Cary, Durham, and Charlotte, ahead of the Honkbalweek Haarlem event from July 9-15 in the Netherlands.

CLAYTON BACK TO MENTOR STAFF
Among Nevada's returners in 2023 is fifth-year catcher Matt Clayton. Clayton's return is big for the Pack, as the veteran will provide a steady hand managing a pitching staff which is comprised of a blend of returners and newcomers.

Clayton also provides punch in the lineup, coming off a 2022 campaign in which he batted .274 with 54 hits, and ranked second on the team with eight home runs and fourth with 48 RBIs. The latter two figures lead all returning Mountain West catchers, and he batted .330 with five homers and 33 RBIs in Mountain West play last season. Clyaton's 31.6 percent "catch" rate of runners attempting to steal also leads returning MW catchers in 2023.

A LOOK AT THE PITCHING STAFF
The Wolf Pack pitching staff features a blend of six returners and 12 newcomers. Junior Kade Morris leads the rotation as the Friday starter, while Casey Burfield (17 appearances, 8 GS, 3-3, 28 Ks, 50.1 IP) will take the ball for Sunday's contest. Also returning from last season is Jacob Biesterfeld, who started seven of the 16 games in which he appeared, going 1-1 with a save and 27 strikeouts.

The new faces are highlighted by sophomore righty Jacob Doktorczyk, a transfer from Sonoma State. In his freshman season with the Seawolves, Doktorczyk went 5-1with a 4.28 ERA and 33 strikeouts over 48.1 innings of work, starting seven of the 11 games in which he appeared. Another new arm to keep an eye on is sophomore Ian Hughes, a transfer from Columbia Basin College who went 3-3 over 13 appearances (11 starts) and struck out 98 batters over 67.1 innings of work.

NEW FACES TO THE PACK
The 2023 season features many new faces on the Wolf Pack roster. Nevada features 25 newcomers on its 40-man roster, after losing 27 players off of the 2022 lineup.

The 25 newcomers break down as seven incoming freshman and 18 transfers, with the transfers breaking down as: nine from Division I programs, one from a Division II program, and eight from the junior college ranks.

Among the Division I transfers are infielders Seth Sweet-Chick (Kansas) and Derek Tenney (Hartford), outfielders Taylor Holder (Oregon) and Henry Strmecki (Dayton), and pitchers Dorsey Chatham (Xavier), Lucas Gather (California), Dillon Holliday (Utah Tech), Kolby Kmetko (Washington State), and Morgan White (Seattle University).