The Nevada Wolf Pack played its second elimination game of the day on Friday after defeating second-seeded New Mexico State 5-4 in the early game, with a dramatic walk-off homer off the bat of freshman Cullen Mahoney.  That hit pushed the Pack to another do-or-die game just hours later against San Jose State, who put the Pack into the elimination bracket after beating them 6-0 in the tourney opener.

Unlike the first game between the Pack and the Spartans, Nevada led for nearly the entire game.  However, the Pack gave up two late leads—-one in the ninth inning and one in the tenth inning—-and lost to the Spartans in extra innings 7-6 in what turns out to be a season ending loss at the Western Athletic Conference tournament in Mesa, Arizona.

“Today we experienced the highs that bring tears of joy and right now the tears are something completely different,” said Nevada Head Coach Gary Powers on the rollercoaster day for the Wolf Pack.

The Pack got on the board in the second with a pair of unearned runs as Brian Barnett and Nick Melino scored to give the Pack an early 2-0 lead with senior southpaw and Sparks native Chris Garcia on the hill for Nevada.

Garcia received more support from Melino whose single to right field in the top of the third scored Game One hero Cullen Mahoney and shortstop Kevin Rodland to put the Silver and Blue up 4-0.

San Jose cut the lead in half in the bottom half of the inning as Jason Martin and Tim Quiery scored on back to back hits for the Spartans to make it a 4-2 game after three.  San Jose would tie it in the fifth as Jesse Rasner came in for relief of Garcia.

Garcia gave up a leadoff walk followed by a double to give the Spartans runners on second and third with nobody out.  San Jose sacrificed to second base scoring a run and Rasner gave up a sacrifice fly to Karson Klauer that scored Martin who tied the game at four.

Cullen Mahoney came up with a big hit in the top of the sixth as he singled to right field and scored Kevin Rodland.  The clutch hitting of Mahoney put the Pack in position to close this one out as the true freshman was ready to assume the hero role twice in one day with Nevada leading 5-4.

With an opportunity to win its second 5-4 game of the day the Wolf Pack bullpen could not get the job done as Jesse Rasner gave up the tying solo home run to Zack Jones in the bottom of the ninth with nobody out.  Coach Powers pulled Rasner in favor of a lefty versus lefty matchup as he called Mat Keplinger out of the bullpen to get the first out.  Keplinger gave up a single and was pulled for closer Tyler Graham.

Graham got the first out right away as San Jose executed a sacrifice bunt to get a runner in scoring position with two outs in the bottom of the ninth but Graham would not allow that run to score as he struck out Spartan third baseman Nick Borg to get out of the jam and force extra innings.

Pack third baseman Garrett Yrigoyen led off with a walk and stole second on a 1-2 count to Carlos Escobar as the throw to second was deflected into right field off shortstop Michael Reiling’s glove, who was a defensive replacement to start the inning, allowing Yrigoyen to advance to third with nobody out.

The Pack were in position to strike in the extra frame of the elimination game  as San Jose loaded the bases with nobody out as Shaun Kort stepped to the plate hoping to pull a Kurt Gibson.  Kort rolled an ankle in the first game and was supposed to be unavailable for this one but with nobody out and the bases loaded in extra innings Kort could not be kept in the dugout and limped to the plate.

Unfortunately Kort lined out as he hit a laser to second base for the first out of the inning as he pinch hit for fellow senior Westely Moss.  Shortstop Kevin Rodland did his best to make sure his fellow seniors would not be playing their last game as he hit a line drive to left field giving the Pack a 6-5 lead.

With the bases loaded and one out the Pack failed to extend their lead as they left them loaded with Graham heading back out to the hill looking to close out the Spartans.  The pinch hit of Moss forced the Pack to adjust their outfield as Jameson Rowe moved to centerfield.

Graham got off to a shaky start after hitting the leadoff man Jason Martin with a pitch.  That was followed by a bloop single to left field that fell in front of Waylen Sing Chow as San Jose opted to sacrifice to put two runners in scoring position with one out as they pushed the Pack to the brink.

Graham, who had pitched on three consecutive days and his fourth consecutive game for Nevada, gave up the game winning hit.  Spartan dual threat pitcher and designated hitter Zack Jones came up with his second clutch hit of the game, a single up the middle to end the Wolf Pack baseball season, as Martin and Tim Quiery scored to give San Jose a 7-6 victory.

“I’ll tell you what I can’t fault the effort of our players,” said Coach Powers following the season ending loss. “They played hard enough and well enough to win but that’s baseball,” Powers added.

“These kids just played their hearts out this weekend and I’m proud of them and for this team here going in picked sixth in the conference and getting 36 wins, those seniors can walk away and hold their heads high,” Powers said.

Powers, who finished his 28^th season at Nevada, was clearly pleased with his team’s development throughout the year but admitted his seniors will be missed. “It was a team effort and this team evolved into a very good team and it’s going to be hard to watch those 8 seniors leave,” said the Nevada coach.

With the loss Nevada dropped to 36-22-1 on the season.  San Jose will move on to play the winner of the Hawaii-Fresno State game which followed the extra inning affair tomorrow at 4 p.m.

SilverandBlueSports.com would like to thank you for your support by following Nevada Wolf Pack baseball.  With the loss of eight seniors it will be a busy offseason for the Nevada coaching staff so stay tuned to Silver and Blue Sports for the latest in Wolf Pack sporting news.