Nevada 10, Air Force 7
Friday, March 20, 2026
Reno, Nev. - Don Weir Field at Peccole Park

WP: Aidan Brainard (2-1)
LP: Gunner Gilmore (0-1)

RENO, Nev. - Nevada improved to 8-0 to start its home season, its best such mark dating back to 1974, in taking the series opener against Air Force, 10-7, Friday night at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park.

The Wolf Pack (13-6, 4-0 MW), winners of five-straight and 10 of its last 11, out-slugged an Air Force team which had scored 69 runs over its past four games. Four Nevada homers, including a go-ahead, two-run shot from Jayce Dobie in the sixth, helped the Pack come from behind twice.

Dobie's homer, his first of the year, off of Falcon reliever Gunner Gilmore put the Pack up for good at 7-6. Later in the inning, with Lee Matsuzaki and Jacob Doyle aboard, Jackson Waller delivered a line drive to left-center which plated both to give the Pack breathing room at 9-6.

Each team added a run over the next three innings. For Nevada, Aidan Brainard was solid again in relief, going the final 3.1 innings to earn his second win. Brainard buckled down over the final two innings, stranding two in the eighth before striking out Luke Elmore and getting the game-ending grounder from Landon Boyd with the bases loaded in the ninth.

Jacob Doyle hit his team-leading seventh homer of the season, a solo shot in the fifth, while going 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Mikey Cruz Jr. followed his three-homer game Tuesday with another long ball Friday, smashing a Josh Holst offering deep to left-center for a three-run shot which gave Nevada a 5-4 lead in the fifth.

Air Force (7-12, 3-1 MW), which got to Pack starter Alessandro Castro for a 4-1 lead through four, came back with two in the top of the sixth on Elmore's RBI grounder and an RBI single from TJ Oster to retake the lead at 6-5. Oster led the Falcons with a 3-for-3, two-RBI night with a walk.

Castro struck out three and gave up six runs (five earned) over 5.2 innings, while for Air Force Gilmore fell to 0-1, surrendering four runs on two hits over two-thirds of an inning. Falcon starter Holst went 4.2 innings, giving up five runs on eight hits.

The teams resume action Saturday at 2:05 p.m.