Nevada 5, Air Force 4 (12)
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Reno, Nev. - Don Weir Field at Peccole Park

WP: Casey Burfield (2-0)
LP: Sam Hentges (0-2)

RENO, Nev. - Taylor Holder did it again. For the second time this season, Holder smashed a walk-off homer at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park, this time sending Nevada to a wild, 5-4 victory over Air Force in 12 innings.

Leading off the bottom of the 12th, Holder sent a Sam Hentges offering deep and out to straightaway center, sparking the Pack celebration and extending Nevada's winning streak to four. Overall, the win pushed the Pack over .500 at 12-11, and kept Nevada in first place atop the Mountain West standings at 7-3.

Nevada will go for its fourth series win to start Mountain West play Friday, as first pitch for the second game of the series is set for 2:05 p.m.

How Thursday's series opener got to the 12th inning was a story in itself. Air Force (10-15, 6-4 MW) scored twice in the top of the 11th, and appeared to be firmly in control, with closer Doyle Gehring starting the 12th, his fourth full inning of work. But a little bit of luck sparked the Wolf Pack, as Gehring airmailed a throw to first on Nolan Wilson's bouncer to lead off the frame, and Nevada, facing one out and down two, suddenly had new life with Wilson at second and none out.

Bryce Matthews singled up the middle for the second time in the contest, halving the deficit as Wilson came across. Jackson Waller, who had entered the game as a pinch-runner two innings prior, blooped a one-out single to left to keep the rally going. Then it was Jake Harvey lining a single into center, with Matthews scoring standing up from second to tie things up at 4-4.

It was the work of a pair of relievers, Nevada's Casey Burfield and Air Force's Hentges, to keep the game going past the 11th. Burfield, entering for Ethan O'Neal with the Wolf Pack down 4-2 and Walker Zapp at second after his two-run double, struck out Ben Niednagel then got back-to-back groundouts from Chase Spencer and Sam Kulasingam to strand the runner in scoring position and keep it a two-run game. After throwing a scoreless 12th, Burfield picked up his second win of the season on Holder's homer.

Hentges, for his part, came on for Gehring after Harvey's game-tying single, and, after loading the bases by plunking Jesse Pierce, got pop-ups out of Michael Ball and JR Freethy to leave the bases loaded. But Hentges would fall to 0-2, giving up Holder's home run to lead off the 12th.

Even prior to the wild 11th inning, Ball made an incredible diving snag of a two-out line drive off the bat of Jake Grieving, stranded the bases full of Falcons and keeping it 2-2 in the 10th.

The duel between starters Jason Doktorczyk of Nevada and Seungmin Shim of Air Force, meanwhile, lived up to its billing. Doktorczyk went eight full, giving up just two runs and striking out nine. Air Force's only runs off of Doktorczyk came on Chase Spencer's two-run homer in the third.

Nevada pulled even against Shim in the fourth, thanks in part to a Falcon error. With two out and Ball at second, Nolan Wilson doubled him in for the Pack's first run. A batter later, Matthews' line drive to right was dropped by Grieving, allowing Wilson to came around with the tying run. The trio of Ball, Matthews, and Wilson would produce two hits apiece to lead Nevada at the plate.

But Shim, like Doktorczyk, shut the door, as he would go on to a 7.2-inning outing with three strikeouts.