Nevada (20-30, 10-17 MW) at San José State (24-24, 15-11 MW)
Thursday-Saturday, May 18-20
San Jose, Calif. - Excite Ballpark

RENO, Nev. - Nevada Baseball (20-30, 10-17 MW) closes the season on the road this weekend, traveling to the Bay Area for a three-game series at San José State (24-24, 15-11 MW).

The series opens with 6:05 p.m. first pitch starts Thursday and Friday, and closes with a 2:05 p.m. contest Saturday.

All contests will be streamed on the Mountain West Network, and be broadcast locally in Reno on KHIT 94.1 FM/1450 AM, and online through The Varsity Network app, with John Ramey on the call.

ABOUT SAN JOSÉ STATE
San José State (24-24, 15-11 MW) returns to Mountain West action after a non-conference week which included a three-game series at Texas.

The Spartans opened the week with a 12-3 road win at San Francisco, then took the opener at Texas, 6-4, before falling in the final two contests.

Charles McAdoo (.335) and Hunter Dorraugh (.333) top the Spartan offense, while Dalton Bowling leads the team with 10 home runs and 45 RBIs.

On the mound, reliever Jack White is 6-2 with a 2.88 ERA and 40 strikeouts, while, among the starting rotation, Micky Thompson is 2-5 with an ERA of 4.75 and 49 strikeouts.

LAST TIME OUT
Nevada went 2-3 last week, falling at Arizona in midweek, non-conference action before splitting four games at New Mexico.

The Wolf Pack took two in a row over Friday's doubleheader nightcap and Saturday's game in Albuqurque. Over the week, JR Freethy led the way, batting .421 (8-for-19) with three home runs and seven RBIs, including his first-career two-homer game Wednesday at Arizona.

Matt Clayton drove in seven runs over the five games, hitting his 10th home run of the season at Friday at New Mexico, and overall going 7-for-20 (.350) with two homers and seven RBIs.

Reliever Morgan White went 2-0, picking up both wins over New Mexico, while Kolby Kmetko picked up saves seven and eight. 

WRAPPING THINGS UP ON THE ROAD
This weekend's trip to San Jose closes a stretch for the Wolf Pack in which it plays its final eight games of the regular season on the road. The Pack wrapped its home campaign May 7 against Fresno State, then went on the road to Tucson to face Arizona, before heading to Albuquerque.

CLAYTON LEADING THE WAY
Fifth-year catcher Matt Clayton, the only returning starting position player for the Wolf Pack in 2023, wraps his stellar Nevada career this weekend in San Jose.

This season, Clayton leads the Pack in hits (61) and RBIs (37), and is second on the team in batting (.316), home runs (10), and doubles (16). All of those figures are career highs for the Yuba City, Calif., native.

This season has featured career games for Clayton March 18 against UNLV, in which he went 4-for-5 with three doubles and five RBIs, then a second four-hit game April 15 against Air Force in which he went 4-for-6 with a double and an RBI. The four hits matched his career high from a pair of 4-for-4 games (against Air Force on April 27, 2019, and against San José State on May 29, 2021) and his five RBIs against UNLV matched his career high, previous set at Grand Canyon, Feb. 19, 2022.

KMETKO PUTTING OUT FIRES
Closer Kolby Kmetko picked up his seventh and eighth saves of the season over the weekend in Albuquerque, moving himself firmly into Nevada's single-season top 10.

With eight saves entering this final weekend of games, Kmetko is tied for seventh on Nevada's single-season top 10 with Scott Albin (1999). Should Kmetko pick up the maximum three saves this weekend in San Jose, he could finish as high as third on the list.

POWER PITCHING
Nevada's pitching staff is third in the Mountain West in strikeouts with 430 through May 14, and is on the cusp of a program record this weekend. The Wolf Pack pitching staff needs just 11 strikeouts this weekend to set the program's single-season record. Eleven more will eclipse the current mark of 440 set by the 2002 staff.

The Pack has 13 pitchers in double digits in strikeouts, with Kade Morris leading the way with 78. Jason Doktorczyk is next with 59 strikeouts, Peyton Stumbo is third with 53, and reliever Morgan White tops the bullpen with 45 strikeouts. Kolby Kmetko (29 Ks over 23.2 innings), and Michael Sarhatt (29 Ks over 31.0 innings) also contribute to the Pack's strikeout total.