Nevada baseball set to face San Jose State

FRESNO, Calif - Nevada enters the Western Athletic Conference Tournament on a seven-game win streak. San Jose State enters with a six-game losing streak, but swept Nevada during the regular season.

Throw those numbers out the window. According to Nevada baseball coach Gary Powers, the tournament is a fresh start for all six teams, and that any team is capable of winning.

"We're in a better mind frame and we have better team chemistry," said Powers, whose fourth-seeded Wolf Pack (24-26) meet the third-seeded Spartans (33-24) today at 3 in an opening-round game in the double-elimination tournament at Pete Beiden Field.

"Physically we're playing better. We're a lot more aggressive than we were earlier in the year. We are playing better fundamentally, and a lot of that has to do with the team's frame of mind. Finally, we have a group that knows their roles and are buying into those roles. They are doing what they can do to help the team have success."

And, much of that can be traced to better defense.

The Pack have Ryan Foley full-time at short, and that's made a huge difference. The freshman has made just two errors in the past 10 games. When the Spartans swept the Pack back in late April at Peccole Park, Nevada made seven errors which led to 10 unearned runs. The last stat is huge, considering that Nevada lost the three games by nine total runs (6-4, 8-6 and 6-1).

"That weekend was a big blur to be honest," said Powers, who had to cope with the tragic death of freshman pitcher Steve Masten besides a tough Spartan team. "We made so many errors, and San Jose capitalized on every one of them.

"San Jose State has always been difficult to play over the years. We are two similar teams. They are physically and mentally tough. To be successful, we have to play hard, play good defense and get good pitching. They are not a team that beats itself very often."

Indeed. The Spartans made just 50 errors in 57 games, and it's tough to doany better than that.

"They're a scrappy team," said Pack third baseman Matt Bowman of Dayton. "They are solid defensively and they have good pitching."

And, how. The Spartans have three good starters in Loren Moneypenny (4-5, 4.95), Branden Dewing (7-5, 3.15) and Josh Amberson (6-4, 4.22). Moneypenny allowed three runs and three hits over eight innings against Nevada, and Amberson scattered six hits and a run over seven innings. Steve Jones has proven to be a capable closer (3-1, 2.12, 5 saves).

Pack catcher Bake Krukow expects to see Moneypenny, who threw eight shutout innings against Nevada back in April, this afternoon.

"He threw strikes and he competes," Krukow said. "He's definitely a competitor. You can't expect anybody but their best."

Terry Walsh went 5-for-9 against the Spartans, Durrell Williams went 5-for-14, David Ciarlo went 3-for-5 and Shawn Scobee went 4-for-9. The rest of the starters struggled against SJSU pitching, however.

"As a team we're swinging it well," Bowman said. "The first game last weekend we only scored five runs, but we did very well the last two games. I feel good at the plate; confident."

As expected, Powers has selected senior right-hander Tim Schoeninger to pitch against the Spartans. Schoeninger has pitched well most of the season, and he would have more than four wins were it not for faulty fielding and lack of hitting by his teammates.

He will face a lineup that has two starters over .300 - Ryan Angel (.319) and left fielder Chris Williammee (.315). Five other starters are around the .265 mark for veteran coach Sam Piraro. San Jose is a team that doesn't strike out often and can manufacture runs by playing small ball.

The Pack's pitching staff took a hit when Powers said that sophomore Steve Taylor has been shut down for the rest of the season because of tenderness in his right forearm and elbow. Taylor would have been the team's third or fourth starter this week, according to Powers.

Powers indicated that Ryan Rodriguez will start on Friday. After that, it's anybody's guess. If Powers opts to use senior Travis Sutton out of the bullpen where he can be used more often, then it would seem that Matt Renfree, Patrick Mason and Chris Scott would be logical choices to start any games played past Friday.

"It (the loss of Taylor) hurts the farther we go in the tournament," Powers said. "Somebody else will have to assume that role. As a staff we have talked about who would start instead of Steve, but nothing has been decided.

"Day 1 is as far as we want to go with our thoughts. We have to make that a priority for us."

Notes: In 2005, Nevada and SJSU split their six-game series, and San Jose State has a 65-55 edge overall dating back to 1965 ... San Jose State is 2-4 in its two previous tournament appearances, 1997 and 1999. The latter tournament is the last time the WAC held a post-season tournament ... Single-day tickets are $20 for lower box reserved, $18 for upper reserved, $10 general admission and $5 for students. There will be three games played on Thursday (today), Friday and Saturday ... The first championship game is scheduled for noon on Sunday and the if-needed game is set for 4 p.m. ... The host Bulldogs and Hawai'i are the top two seeds in the tournament. Fresno State won the regular-season crown by a half-game ... Hawai'i faces Louisiana Tech in the tourney opener today at 11 a.m., and Fresno State battles Sacramento State at 7 p.m.

•Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281