RENO - After being stymied by bad weather throughout the entire month of January and the early part of February, Nevada hitters are finally in a nice groove.
Ben Mummy slammed a big two-run single and Shawn Scobee hit a three-run homer to highlight the Wolf Pack's 15-hit attack in a 11-7 win over Hawai'i Saturday afternoon at Peccole Park.
The win keeps the Pack on top in the WAC with a 6-2 record, 17-11 overall. Hawai'i fell to 3-8 in conference and 15-20 overall. The teams square off in the season finale today at 1 p.m.
The victory was Nevada's sixth in its last seven games and eighth in its last 11 dating back to March 19. In the 11-game span, hitters have been on a roll. The Pack are averaging eight runs per game in their last 11 outings.
"You can't worry about that," Nevada coach Gary Powers said, alluding to the bad weather that kept the Pack indoors and canceled six games. "We have to keep working everyday. The more comfortable we get at the plate, the better the kids will be at the plate."
"We're starting to get more confident," Mummy said. "We're seeing the ball better and our bats are better. We're taking good pitches and putting good swings on the ball. Everything is clicking."
And, Mummy and Scobee put their best swings of the day in a six-run eighth inning. The inning was kept alive by a two-out error, the second consecutive day the Rainbows made a big error.
Leading 5--4 in the bottom of the eighth, Eric Newman worked a one-out walk off reliever Ricky Bauer. He moved to second on a single by Bub Madrid (3-for-4). Brett Hayes was caught looking at a called third strike for the second out. Robert Marcial followed with a line drive to left field that Nathan Thurber butchered, scoring Newman and putting runners on second and third.
Hawai'i opted to walk Jacob Butler, who already had two hits and a sacrifice fly, in favor of facing Mummy, who had doubled in Nevada's first run in the first inning. Mummy made the Rainbows pay.
The junior first baseman slammed a two-run single to right-center field, scoring Madrid and Marcial to make it 8-4.
"I was surprised," Mummy said. "It fires you up a little. It's great. It's so in your face. It's a great feeling. It was tough. It was 3-1 and he has to come with a (good) pitch. It made my job easier."
"That's happened to us a a lot this year," Powers said, alluding to the error in left. "Yesterday they got a three-run homer because we made an error. It's a give and take thing."
After Mummy's single, Scobee followed with his team-leading seventh homer of the season, just several feet inside the foul pole, to make it 11-4. Scobee was in a 0 for 8 skid, six strikeouts, when he connected.
It was a good thing that Mummy and Scobee came through because Hawai'i rallied in the ninth, as Isaac Omura slammed a three-run, two-out homer off reliever Chris Scott, who walked a batter before retiring the side to pick up his first save.
While the hitters did take center stage, the Pack got a solid starting effort from Ryan Rodriguez (7-2), who scattered seven hits over seven innings.
Rodriguez was touched for three second-inning runs when No. 9 hitter Esteban Lopez slammed a two-out bases-loaded double to clear the bases and give Hawai'i a 3-1 lead.
The old Rodriguez would have gone to pieces after that. The right-hander from McQueen showed his maturity by settling in and blanking the Rainbows over the next four innings before allowing a run in the seventh.
"He did a nice job," Powers said. "Last year he might have struggled after that; might not have made it out of that situation."
"I thought about that (last year)," Rodriguez said. "I would try to be too perfect and throw the pitch they were expecting instead of pitching my game. (Today) I moved on and made better pitches."
NOTES: Madrid was moved from 1 to 9 and responded with a 3-for-4 effort, much to Powers' delight ... Marcial was moved to second, breaking a 50-game streak of hitting ninth ... Hayes, Dayton's Matt Bowman, Butler, Mummy and Baker Krukow all had two hits for Nevada ... Travis Sutton pitches today's series finale for Nevada against Hawai'i's Justin Costi, who prepped at Elk Grove High School in the Sacramento area.
Darrell Moody can be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281