OXFORD, Miss. -Â Despite a solo homer to lead off the season from
Jake Harvey, Nevada Baseball dropped Friday's opener, 11-3, at Ole Miss.
Saturday's second game has been moved up to 10 a.m. PT from its originally-scheduled start time of 11:30 a.m. PT due to expected inclement weather.
Harvey's solo shot wasn't the only bright spot for the Wolf Pack Friday despite the outcome. Nevada's offense showed pop against Rebel pitching as
Junhyuk Kwon went 2-for-2 with a double and two walks,
Jayce Dobie was 3-for-4 with a double, and freshman
Rominic Quiban rapped a couple of hits in his collegiate debut.
Nevada (0-1) went just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position Friday, and, after Harvey's long ball to start the first, squandered Dobie's double off the wall in left-center.
Ole Miss (1-0) came out aggressive at the plate, as Dom Decker doubled to lead off the Rebel first against Wolf Pack starter
Dominic Desch. A walk and a hit batter loaded the bases, setting up Tristan Bissetta's bases-clearing double to right-center. Ole Miss added its fourth of the frame as Bissetta scored on a double play.
The Rebels quickly put two on with one out in the second. Back-to-back RBI singles from Will Furniss and Bissetta put the pressure on the Pack as Ole Miss built a 6-1 lead.
Desch lasted into the fourth for Nevada before being lifted for
Mahiro Tomita with one out in the frame. Despite giving up a run on a groundout, Tomita retired the first six batters he faced. In his Nevada debut, Tomita would go 4.1 innings with five strikeouts, only running into trouble with two out in the eighth, when Ole Miss put three runs across. Desch would finish the day charged with seven runs on seven hits.
Ole Miss starter Hunter Elliott recovered from the jam in the first to put up zeroes over the next four innings. Elliott exited the game after five innings, and Nevada threatened in the sixth with Owen Kelly on the mound. Singles from Dobie and
Sean Yamaguchi putting runners at the corners to start, and Dobie came across as Rebel shortstop Brayden Randle couldn't handle a lined short-hopper off the bat of
Billy Ham. The Pack got a second when Randle committed his second error, this time throwing off-target and into right field trying to double off Yamaguchi after he snagged
Sam Kane's line drive.
Hudson Calhoun came on for Kelly and ended the threat with strikeouts of
Jackson Waller and
Jacob Doyle. Calhoun would go the final 3.2 innings for the save, striking out five.