UNLV 8, Nevada 7
Saturday, April 25, 2026
Reno, Nev. - Don Weir Field at Peccole Park

WP: Yates Bland (5-0)
LP: Eric Valdez (1-2)
SV: Ryan Marton (2)

RENO, Nev. - Nevada loaded the bases, down one, in the bottom of the ninth, but the comeback fell just short in Saturday's 8-7 loss to UNLV at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park.

Jake Harvey, facing UNLV's Ryan Marton, battled and fouled off six pitches, including five in a row, with two strikes until flying out to center for the final out. Marton came on for Yates Bland after Sean Yamaguchi brought the Pack within a run with a two-out double and Bland hit Junhyuk Kwon to load the bases, and got his second save of the season.

The series between the rivals will be settled with Sunday's rubber game at 12:05 p.m.

UNLV (24-18, 7-10 MW) retook the lead with three runs in the top of the fifth, pulling within one on Marcos Rosales' solo homer down the line in left, then getting an RBI double from Nin Burns II to tie it up against Wolf Pack reliever Eric Valdez. Burns then scored the go-ahead run on Jonny Rodriguez's single to right.

The Rebels added a run on Gavin Taylor's solo homer in the sixth to go up 8-6.

Yamaguchi continued his solid weekend, going 2-for-4 with the RBI double while Mikey Cruz Jr. drove in three runs with three hits, extending his hitting streak to 24 games. Harvey drove in two runs and went 2-for-5.

Cruz opened Nevada's scoring with an RBI triple to plate Rominic Quiban in the first, then added a two-run double in the Pack's four-run fourth when it took a 6-4 lead.

Nevada starter Ryan Oakes settled in after giving up a first-inning grand slam to Rodriguez, who finished the game with five RBIs. Oakes, who struck out seven and gave up six runs over 4.1 innings, allowed just one hit from the second through fourth innings before running into trouble in the fifth.

Bland spelled Rebel starter Carson Lane with one out in the fifth and held Nevada (22-17, 11-6 MW) to a run on four hits and struck out five to get his fifth win of the season. After Nevada produced 10 hits over the first four innings, it mustered just two hits in the sixth against Bland until Jayce Dobie opened the ninth with a single up the middle.