The University of Nevada (19-15, 8-5 in the Western Athletic Conference) ran into a hot hitter in Beau Mills and pitcher in Matt Garza on Friday night falling 3-1 to Fresno State in the first game of a three-game series at Pete Beiden Field in Fresno, Calif.
Despite the loss the Wolf Pack maintained its one half game lead for first over San Jose State (9-7), who lost 1-0 to Hawai`i earlier in the day.
The Wolf Pack scored a run on one hit in the top of the second inning to take an early 1-0 lead. Jacob Butler singled sharply to center field to start the inning and later scored when the Bulldogs committed one of their two errors in the inning.
Bulldog third baseman Beau Mills hit his first of two home runs in the bottom of the second to tie the game at 1-1. Mills' second homer in the fourth put the Bulldogs ahead to stay 2-1. The Bulldogs added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to make the final score 3-1.
Nevada's two hits in the game came off the bat of Butler and Dayton High graduate Matt Bowman, a freshman. Bowman started in left field, batted second, and went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. Mills had three of the Bulldogs' six hits.
Garza (3-4) allowed one unearned run while striking out nine in eight innings. Ryan Penn pitched a perfect ninth to earn his second save of the year. Pack starter Tim Schoeninger (4-5) pitched his fourth complete game of the year but was tagged with the loss allowing three runs, two earned in eight innings
Game two of the series is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. today.