RENO - Tim Schoeninger wanted to make his last start at Peccole Park a good one. Mission accomplished.
Schoeninger threw seven shutout innings before giving up four runs in the eighth, only one of which was earned, to spark Nevada to a 9-6 win over Sacramento State Friday night.
The win was Schoeninger's first since he beat New Mexico State 9-1 back on March 24, and it helped end Nevada's Western Athletic Conference eight-game losing streak. Nevada's last WAC win was an 11-5 triumph at Louisiana Tech on April 9.
"It (last career start) goes through your mind" said Schoeninger, who fanned eight and didn't walk a batter. "Your parents are here and the grandparents came out. Everybody has been good to me here. It gives them something to remember me by.
"It always feels good to get a win. I felt good. I was hitting my locations (first seven innings). I was a little fatigued and started leaving some fastballs up. Give them credit, they started hitting the ball."
Schoeninger (4-6) deserved better. Had it not been for an error by Ryan Foley to start the eighth, he would have had a shutout. Sacramento State batted around in the eighth.
"He had the game in hand right up until the end" Nevada coach Gary Powers said. "He did more than his share.
"He should have been sitting in the dugout. I probably shouldn't have left him in. It's probably my fault he didn't leave on a more positive note."
But he left ahead this time around, something he hasn't been able to do in recent starts. That's because the defense played well early in the game and the offense took advantage of its scoring opportunities throughout the first seven innings.
Nevada took a 1-0 lead in the second when Terry Walsh was hit by a pitch with one out. Singles to right by Matt Suleski and Jordan Opdyke loaded the bases. After David Ciarlo struck out, Foley followed with a dribbler that third baseman David Flores booted, allowing Walsh to score.
The Pack added two more unearned runs in the fourth.
Suleski was safe when Sac State pitcher Matt Campbell missed first base when he took the throw from first baseman Brian Blauser. Suleski moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Opdyke and scored on Ciarlo's single to center. Ciarlo came around to score on a balk, a single by Foley and a fielder's choice.
Nevada exploded for six runs in the fifth upping the lead to 9-0. Only one of the three hits, Ciarlo's single, left the infield. Sac State pitchers walked three and hit a batter in the inning. The Hornets also made an error.
That's the way it stayed until the last two innings when the Hornets scored six runs to make it close.
Opdyke, Ciarlo and Foley, the last three hitters in the lineup, accounted for five of Nevada's nine hits, four of the runs and four RBIs. That was critical because Dayton's Matt Bowman, Shawn Scobee and Terry Walsh, the 3-4-5 hitters, were a combined 2-for-10 with two runs scored an RBI.
"The guys at the bottom of the order picked them up tonight and drove in the runs," Powers said. "That's a good sign."
Ciarlo is on a hot streak in the last two Nevada wins. He's 4-for-7 with five RBI.
"I'm seeing the ball well," Ciarlo said. "I've been working on some focus stuff with the coaches. The coaches are working with me on concentrating on the job at hand offensively and defensively."
Nevada moved one game ahead of idle New Mexico State, which starts a three-game series today with Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs are on a nine-game WAC losing streak.
Powers wouldn't even hazard a guess of how many of its five games Nevada will have to win to make the post-season tournament.
"We can't look ahead," Powers said. "We have to play one inning at a time to be perfectly honest. We have our backs to the wall, and the only way to fight our way out is one pitch at a time.
"They came out tonight and played hard. For the most part, they came out and competed."
That's all Powers ever expects, and if this team can do that in the last five games, it should be able to punch its ticket to Fresno for the post-season tournament.
NOTES: Bowman had his 18th multi-hit game of the season, surpassing Scobee for the team lead ... Suleski has a three-game hit streak. He's 4-for-10 with three RBI in that stretch ... Foley also has hit safely in three straight games. He's 6 for 12 with six RBI ... Hawai'i is currently 14-6, a half-game ahead of Fresno State, which is 13-6. San Jose State is third at 12-7.