The University of Nevada baseball team may have found the No. 2 starting pitching it's been looking for all year.
Reno's Adam Colton turned in a solid effort on the mound and the Wolf Pack pounded away again in a 15-4 win at Louisiana Tech on Friday. Nevada (17-17, 3-5 in the Western Athletic Conference) has scored 28 runs in winning the first two games of the series against Louisiana Tech (13-24, 3-8).
Douglas High graduate Austin Graham got into the act, going 1-for-1 with a two-run home run, an RBI sacrifice fly and three RBI. Graham is now hitting .250 (4-for-16) with two home runs and five RBI on the year. Ben Mummy also hit a three-run shot, doubled and had five RBI and Brett Hayes homered for the Wolf Pack.
Carson High graduate Joe Mercer started at third and batting cleanup, going 0-for-1 with a walk and a sacrifice bunt. Mercer was also hit by a pitch. Mercer is now hitting .348 (24-for-69) on the season.
Another Carson gradaute, Owen Brolsma needed just 11 pitches to pitch a one-two-three eighth inning, striking out one. Colton allowed four runs over seven innings for the win.
Nevada scored four runs in the fifth to take a 6-2 lead, with Mummy belting his three-run shot to highlight the rally. It was Mummy's seventh homer of the year. The Wolf Pack added five more runs in the seventh to make it 11-2.
Hayes and Butler singled and Mercer followed with a sacrifice bunt. Mercer reached on an error on the play to load the bases. Eric Newman came in to pinch run for Mercer and Mummy followed with a two-run double. After Chris Gimenez was hit by a pitch to reload the bases, Erick Streelman walked to force in a run. Bub Madrid and Graham followed with RBI sacrifice flies to give Nevada an 11-2 lead.
In the eighth, Hayes hit a solo shot and Gimenez belted an RBI double to make it 13-4. In the ninth, Madrid doubled and Graham followed with his two-run shot to finish the scoring. Butler had four hits and Robert Marcial added three hits for the Wolf Pack.