CSUN 6, Nevada 4
Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024
Northridge, Calif. - Matador Field

WP: Joshua Romero (3-0)
LP: Nico Wagner (0-1)

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - Nevada Baseball fell in the late innings for the second-straight time Thursday, this time a three-run, walk-off home run from CSUN's Jakob Simons sending the Wolf Pack to a 6-4 defeat.

The Pack (4-4) will have a chance to even the series in Friday's matinee, set for a 12 p.m. first pitch.

Trailing 3-2 headed to the ninth, Nevada found life with a one-out walk from Michael Ball and a double from Derek Tenney, putting runners in scoring position. Jake Harvey tied it up with a looping RBI single to center, then the Pack took the lead as Jesse Pierce legged out double-play attempt that caromed off of CSUN reliever Joshua Romero.

Nico Wagner, who had pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Nevada starter Jason Doktorczyk, came back out for the ninth and quickly got the first two outs. But singles from Andrew Sojka and Mason Le kept the Matadors' hopes alive, setting up Simon sending Wagner's first offering deep and out to left to end it.

Prior to the teams scoring a combined five runs in the ninth, matching their output over the first eight innings, Doktorczyk and Matador starter Thomas Bainton engaged in a solid pitching duel.

Doktorczyk turned in a third-straight solid outing to start the campaign, giving up just three runs on five hits and striking out seven over six innings. Bainton, for his part, allowed just two runs over seven innings, with five strikeouts.

Taylor Holder's two-run double in the second struck first for the Pack. CSUN got one back in its half of the frame, on Sojka's RBI groundout. The Matadors would take their first lead of the game thanks to Ben Griffin's two-out, two-run single in the sixth, before Doktorczyk closed out the inning.

Along with the RBI hits from Holder and Harvey, Justin Acal led the Pack with two hits on the day.