After splitting the first two games of the series on Friday, Nevada came back with dual-threat junior Brock Stassi on the hill with his 3.43 ERA on a snowy Saturday afternoon at Peccole Park. Stassi did not disappoint.

Louisiana Tech got on the board early when Joey Ford doubled with runners on first and second plating Alex Williams from second to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. On the previous play, Stassi appeared frustrated when he didn’t get the call on a late breaking curve ball that would have gotten Nevada out of the inning.

But Nevada struck right back, tying things up in the second after Nick Melino and Stassi reached on back to back walks.  Garrett Yrigoyen executed a sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners and Melino came across the plate when catcher Carlos Escobar grounded out to the shortstop as the game was tied at 1-1 after two. The Silver and Blue extended their lead in the third, but Louisiana Tech had some quality damage control after loading the bases with nobody out.  Brian Barnett hit into a double play with the bases loaded which scored shortstop Kevin Rodland.  Melino was hit by a pitch and Stassi followed that with a single through the right side of the infield scoring Cullen Mahoney from third to put the Pack up 3-1.

Once the Pack started scoring, they never stopped. Garrett Yrigoyen reached on a walk and Escobar stepped up with the bases loaded and unloaded them as the freshman hit his first career grand slam, his fifth home run of the year, to give Nevada a 7-1 lead.

The three-four hitters in the Nevada lineup came up big again in the fourth as Shaun Kort smacked a double down the left field line.  The double was the 73^rd of Kort’s illustrious career at Nevada and extended his hold on the record.  Barnett came up and knocked another double scoring Kort.  Melino reached on a throwing error and Stassi followed that with a double that scored Melino.

The bad luck continued in the fourth for the bulldogs as Yrigoyen singled off the chest of pitcher Josh Barrett as Nevada’s big fourth inning continued.  Escobar walked and center fielder Westely Moss came up and smoked one off the center field wall scoring two more.  Rodland followed that with a sacrifice fly that made it 13-1 before Barrett was pulled for left hander Jamelle Clements.  Shaun Kort reached on an error by the first baseman as another run would score to make it 14-1 after four.

Nevada batted around in both the third and fourth innings and Nevada looked as though it was heading for a ten run rule as things got went from bad to worse for Louisiana Tech in the sixth.

Westely Moss led off the inning with a single to left field and Rodland followed that up with his eighth home run of the season, a two-run shot that sailed over the left field fence.  Nevada continued to press in the inning as Waylen Sing-Chow hit a sacrifice fly in a pinch hit at-bat to score Mahoney.  Ronnie Mitchell scored on a bases loaded walk to give Nevada an 18-1 lead after six innings.

Coming in for Brock Stassi and closing things out was Jerad Harvey.  Stassi finished the game with 7 strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched and improved his record to 7-4 on the year while lowering his ERA to 3.28 on the season.

With the victory Nevada improved to 33-20-1 overall and 13-9-1in the Western Athletic Conference.  The series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Peccole Park.  Come on out and send the Nevada seniors off to the WAC Tournament in style.  The WAC Tournament begins play on Wednesday in Mesa, Arizona.

Game Box Score