Wolf Pack wants island slugfest
High-scoring series can only help Nevada at Hawaii
The Wolf Pack will get back to conference play this weekend as the team travels to Hawaii.
This weekend, Nevada will send its improved pitching staff to compete against one of the best staffs in the conference.
Offensive series favors Nevada
The Wolf Pack hopes that old cliché “good pitching beats good hitting” doesn’t hold up this weekend against Hawaii.
Hawaii is third in the Western Athletic Conference in earned run average (4.86) and the Warriors rarely surrender the long ball. Hawaii has allowed only 18 home runs in 37 games this season.
Hawaii is second in the WAC in opposing on base percentage (.274) and second in strikeouts (243).
The Warriors pitchers are enabled by its WAC-best .974 fielding percentage.
Nevada brings the offense, though. The Wolf Pack leads the WAC in batting average (.321) and slugging percentage (.503).
If Nevada can score close to its average of 7.6 runs per game, then it should take the series at Hawaii.
Exploit weak hitting
Nevada’s solid pitching should continue at Hawaii.
The Rainbow Warriors are last in nearly every WAC offensive statistic.
Hawaii is last in batting average (.260), OBP (.353) and runs per game (4.41).
Hawaii has only hit 10 home runs this season, compared to 36 home runs for the Wolf Pack.
The Warriors will have a tough time with Nevada’s two hot pitchers, Rod Scurry and Kyle Howe, who threw a combined 18 innings last weekend and allowed only one run.
Start winning on the road
Nevada has the worst road record in the conference and will need to improve its play away from Peccole Park if it wants to prepare for the WAC tournament.
The Wolf Pack is 2-8 on the road this year.
Nevada’s bad away record may have something to do with its inexperience on the road this season. The Wolf Pack has only played 10 of 35 games away from Peccole Park this season.
The WAC tournament is in Ruston, La. this year, and if Nevada is to advance to the regional tournament it will have to prove it can win on the road.
This weekend would be a nice time for Nevada to win its third road game, already 35 games into the season.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 12:29 am and is filed under Baseball, Sports.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Print this post
Email this post© 2008 The Nevada Sagebrush
