Mercer leads Pack baseball in loss

Carson High graduate Joe Mercer went 2-for-4, but it wasn't enough for the University of Nevada baseball team in an 8-4 loss at Hawai'i on Friday.

The Wolf Pack lost for the second straight day to Hawai'l and going into Saturday, fell into fourth place in the Western Athletic Conference. Nevada fell to 8-9 in the WAC, one-half game behind 8-8 Fresno State. Hawai'i was in second at 10-7. Nevada and Hawai'i finished their series on Saturday in a game that began at 9:35 p.m. Pacific time.

Mercer is now hitting .346 on the season (36-for-104).

The Rainbows jumped on Nevada starter Adam Colton for four runs in the first to take a 4-0 lead. Mercer doubled and scored on Bub Madrid's sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 in the second.

The Rainbows scored four more runs in the third in an inning in which they chased Colton to take an 8-1 lead. In the sixth, Chris Gimenez walked, advanced to third on Mercer's single and scored on a fielder's choice.

In the seventh, Madrid singled and scored on Robert Marcial's triple. Marcial then scored on Derek McNeil's single to make it 8-4. Madrid and Brian Gazerro also had two hits for the Wolf Pack.