Wolf Pack facing first place ‘Dogs’
Monday, Apr. 21, 2008 @ 11:35 pm
Nevada gets series rematch with Fresno State
The Wolf Pack baseball team will have to play with a sense of urgency this weekend at home against Fresno State.
Nevada was embarrassed at Hawaii last weekend. Not only was it 10-run ruled on Saturday, but the Wolf Pack also lost three of four games. This weekend doesn’t get any easier for Nevada, who will play Western Athletic Conference first place team Fresno State. The Bulldogs took three of four games at home against Nevada earlier in the season.
Fresno State has won nine straight WAC games and hasn’t lost a conference game since losing to Nevada on March 29.
Tough pitching
Fresno State’s four starters have a collective earned run average of 3.48, which is really good for a college baseball staff. The Bulldogs team ERA is 4.35, best in the WAC.
Fresno State also has a solid closer in Brandon Burke (2.83 ERA).
If the Bulldogs’ starting staff can hand the game to its closer, the Wolf Pack will be in trouble—runs will be hard to come by. Nevada needs to work counts, tire the Bulldogs’ starting pitching and get them out of the games early because Fresno State’s middle relievers are weak.
The rest of Fresno State’s pitchers have a collective ERA of 6.89.
Look for the fifth through eighth innings as golden opportunities for Nevada to cash in on runs.
Hot offense
Fresno State is ranked 189 in the nation in team batting average (.281), but last week it exploded for 56 runs in a four-game series against New Mexico State.
The Bulldogs won two of the four games by the 10-run rule in its four-game sweep.
The Wolf Pack will also have to stop WAC Hitter of the Week Steve Detwiler, who went nine for 16 with nine runs and 11 RBI’s last weekend.
Nevada’s starting pitchers have to pitch better than they did at Hawaii.
Rod Scurry surrendered seven runs in four innings in the series opener, and Kyle Howe, Nevada’s most reliable pitcher, had his worst start of the year.
Howe lost his first game of the season (5-1), allowing six runs and walking five batters in two innings pitched.
Welcome Home
Nevada hopes the friendly confines of Peccole Park can get the team back on a winning track.
Nevada went on the road last weekend and dropped three of four, continuing to prove how bad this team is on the road.
The Wolf Pack is 3-11 away from Peccole Park this season, but is 19-6 at home.
Photo by Daniel Clark/Nevada Sagebrush
This entry was posted
on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 11:35 pm 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
