2025 Mountain West Championship
Friday, May 23, 2025
Mesa, Ariz. - Sloan Park

Game 1
(2) Fresno State 12, (1) Nevada 7 (14 inn.)

WP: Tyler Patrick (1-3)
LP: Ethan O'Neal (1-3)

Game 2
(6) San José State 4, (1) Nevada 3 (10 inn.)

WP: Tyler Albanese (4-3)
LP: Eric Valdez (4-1)

MESA, Ariz. - On a marathon day spanning two games, 24 innings, a combined eight hours and 15 minutes of baseball and ending in the wee hours of Saturday morning, Nevada's 2025 campaign came to an end with losses to Fresno State and San José State at the 2025 Credit Union 1 Mountain West Championship.

The Wolf Pack finish the 2025 campaign at 34-23, its most wins since 2016 (37), and with the Mountain West regular season title, its fourth overall and first since 2021.

Friday, which bled into Saturday by the time all was said and done, began with a dramatic ninth-inning comeback against Fresno State before the Wolf Pack fell, 12-7, in a 14-inning, four hour and 57-minute epic. Turning around and playing an hour later, at 10:10 p.m. in Mesa, Nevada again reached deep and found the resolve to equalize late, before once again falling in extra frames, 4-3 in 10 innings, to San José State.

Game 1 - Fresno State 12, Nevada 7 (14 inn.)
Nevada sent the game with Fresno State into extra innings with three runs in the bottom of the ninth, but the Bulldogs outlasted the Wolf Pack, scoring five times in the top of the 14th to take the 12-7 win.

The 14-inning contest goes down as the second-longest in Mountain West Championship history, and nearly hit the five-hour mark, going four hours and 57 minutes.

Trailing 7-4 in the ninth, Nevada put two on before Sean Yamaguchi's RBI single scored Mason Hirata to make it 7-5. Jayce Dobie bunted the runners to second and third, and, two batters later, Billy Ham delivered a two-out, two-run single to tie it up and send it to extras.

There, the Wolf Pack and Bulldogs matched zeroes for four more frames before Fresno State finally broke the stalemate in the 14th. Cayden Munster was hit by a pitch to lead off, then Sky Collins singled to right and made it to second on a throwing error from Jacob Doyle in right. Ethan O'Neal, in his fifth inning of relief, got a groundout from Griffen Sotomayor, but loaded the bases by hitting Eddie Saldivar. That brought up Murf Gray, who lined an 0-2 pitch past third base and down the line for a bases-clearing double, making it 10-7 Bulldogs. Fresno State added two more runs to its cushion on RBI singles from Bobby Blandford and Lee Trevino.

O'Neal took the loss, falling to 1-3 despite the heroic effort in relief. He went 4.1 innings, holding the Bulldogs scoreless from the 10th through 13th innings, but was charged with four of the five Fresno State runs in the 14th.

Fresno State had jumped out to an early lead in the contest, and Mountain West Pitcher of the Year Aidan Cremarosa held Nevada to just a run over the first six innings until running into trouble in the seventh.

A leadoff single and one-out walks to Donovan Ratfield and Harvey set up Yamaguchi's two-run single which chased Cremarosa. Dobie followed with an RBI single off of reliever Caleb Anderson, and a walk to Ball chased Anderson. But Townson came on, got in front of Ham, and induced a grounder to short which Trevino turned into the key double play.

Wolf Pack starter Alessandro Castro ran into trouble early as Fresno State loaded the bases in the second on a single from Bobby Blandford and walks to Trevino and Cam Schneider. Cayden Munster opened the scoring with a single through the left side. But the Wolf Pack buckled down, getting two force outs at the plate before Castro escaped by getting Eddie Saldivar to line out to Ball at short.

Yet Nevada kept bleeding early runs. The Bulldogs (30-27) got one-out singles in the third, with runners advancing an extra base on the latter as Doyle booted the ball in right. After a walk loaded the bases and chased Castro, Schneider brought Justin Stransky in with a sacrifice fly against reliever Logan Saloman to make it 2-0.

Castro lasted just 2.1 innings, giving up two runs on five hits while walking three.

The Bulldogs made it 4-0 with two in the fourth. Sky Collins led off with a triple then scored on a wild pitch for the first run. Starting over, Griffen Sotomayor doubled, was sacrificed to third, then came in on Gray's fly ball to center.

Nevada got on the board on Taylor Holder's solo homer to center in the bottom half, but Fresno State got the lead to 6-1, getting another sacrifice fly from Gray and an RBI double from Justin Stransky in the sixth.

Wolf Pack reliever Dominic Desch came on for the Pack to start the fifth and went a season-long five innings, striking out a career-high nine while allowing three runs on five hits.

Yamaguchi went 3-for-7 with three RBIs for the Wolf Pack, Mason Hirata went 2-for-3 with two runs scored as a late-game defensive replacement, and Holder's solo homer was his 10th of the season.

For Fresno State, Tyler Patrick went the final three innings, holding the Pack scoreless and giving up just three hits for his first win. Cremarosa went 6.1 innings, giving up four runs on five hits. At the plate, Gray was 2-for-4 with five RBIs while Bobby Blandford went 5-for-8 with two RBIs.

Game 2 - San José State 4, Nevada 3 (10 inn.)
Nevada fought back from two deficits to tie it up in the elimination game against San José State, but the Spartans got the last blow with a run in the top of the 10th to take the 4-3 victory.

Having to reset after the emotionally-draining 14-inning loss to Fresno State just an hour prior, Nevada fell behind by a pair in the first to a Spartan team that had nearly eight hours of rest after its morning contest. San José State got first-inning triples from Alex Fernandes and Zach Chamizo to take a 1-0 lead, then doubled it when Chamizo came in on Jake McCoy's sacrifice fly.

Short on available arms out of the bullpen, Nevada needed, and got, a lengthy outing from starter Casey Burfield. The senior matched his career high with nine strikeouts, going seven innings and allowing just three runs while getting a no-decision.

The Wolf Pack pulled even in the bottom of the fourth on Jacob Doyle's towering two-run homer to left.

Another Spartan sacrifice fly gave San José State a 3-2 lead in the sixth, and Nevada would answer in the eighth. Back-to-back one-out doubles from Jackson Waller and Taylor Holder made it 3-3 off of Spartan closer Tyler Albanese.

But Albanese would give up just one more hit over the final two innings. Sean Yamaguchi, who went 3-for-5 in the contest, singled with one out in the ninth, but was immediately erased as Albanese got Billy Ham to ground into a double play.

In the top of the 10th, Wolf Pack reliever Eric Valdez's wild pitch scored Antonio Nanez with the game-winner. For Valdez it was his first loss of the year, as he went the final 1.1 innings.

Albanese got the win for San José State, improving to 4-3 going the final three innings and giving up just a run on three hits with three strikeouts.

Taylor Holder and Jayce Dobie each had two hits for the Wolf Pack, while for San José State Rocco Caballero went 3-for-6.