Junior Brock Stassi has put on quite a show the past two weeks in his native Northern California, leading the Pack to a solid start despite 8 straight road games to begin the season. The Yuba City product is hitting a cool .440 on the young season, and today, he ran his pitching record to 2-0 and lowered his ERA to a minuscule 0.73 in a 5-3 Pack win over UC-Davis.

The kid is really simply doing everything it takes to win, and today’s performance against the Aggies was no different. He threw 7 innings of 1 (earned) run ball, giving up just 6 hits while striking out 7.  In 12 1/3 innings to date, Stassi has yet to walk a single batter.

And walks were the big difference in this victory, which pushed the Pack’s overall record to 5-3.  They drew 8 walks—-2 each by the top four hitters in their line-up—-while not walking any Aggies.  As a team, Nevada showed their patience, and that paid off in what was a 3-2 deficit for the Pack entering the 7th inning.

Stassi has done it with his bat and arm early on

They drew two walks in the top half of that inning, and with one out, got a sacrifice fly from junior Nick Leid to tie the score.  In Stassi’s pivotal 7th and final inning, he threw just 11 pitches in a 1, 2, 3 close the door inning.

In order to get the win for Stassi, the Pack had to score at least a run in the top half of the 8th and they did just that.  Senior shortstop Kevin Rodland, who scored the tying run in the 7th, drove the third pitch he saw to left center to score sophomore catcher Michael Turay.  It had to be a tremendous moment for Turay, a Davis native playing against his hometown team, scoring the eventual winning run, as well as pick up the go-ahead run for his battery mate Stassi.

Off to a slow start, Turay came up huge for the Pack today

From there, it was shutdown corner for Nevada’s senior closer, Tyler Graham.  The Oregon State transfer, who won a JUCO state title at Sierra JC, has had a marvelous start to the 2010 season.  He’s already collected a pair of two-inning saves on the young season, and while that’s the important part, he’s been perfect. He has yet to allow a single base runner.

Graham has been lights out in Nevada's 5-3 overall start

NevadaWolfPack.com Game Boxscore

With plenty of early momentum, the Pack return to Reno to play their home opener on Friday, March 5th at 2:00 P.M. against Central Arkansas. Nevada will play a three-game series against the Bears before hosting a single-game series against Saint Mary’s, who they defeated 3-1 back on Feb. 22 in Moraga behind the pitching of Stassi.