The University of Nevada baseball team scored seven runs in the fourth inning and collected 18 hits in an 11-6 victory over San Jose State (32-24, 11-13 WAC) on Sunday at San Jose's Municipal Stadium.
With the victory, the Pack are now 32-24 on the season with a 15-9 record in WAC play and have earned the No. 2 seed in the WAC Tournament to be held Thursday through Sunday at Peccole Park.
After falling behind 1-0 in the third inning, the Pack responded with six hits in the fourth and scored seven runs to take a commanding 7-1 lead. Freshman Shaun Kort and senior Konrad Schmidt led off the inning with back-to-back singles and advanced to second and third base on a sacrifice bunt by senior Baker Krukow. Junior Terry Walsh knocked in Kort on a fielding error by San Jose State first baseman Ryan Angel. After a walk to junior David Ciarlo to load the bases, Nevada got a two run single from junior Jason Sadoian followed by junior Jason Rodriguez who singled in Ciarlo. With two outs, Kort doubled in Rodriguez and Sadoian for his second hit of the inning.
The Pack added two runs in the sixth on back-to-back RBI singles by Schmidt and Krukow. After San Jose State scored two runs in the bottom half of the sixth to make the score 9-5, Nevada scored two runs in seventh on an RBI single by Sadoian and an RBI double by Rodriguez.
The first three hitters in the Pack lineup combined for 11 hits, six runs scored and seven RBI. Sadoian was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBI. Rodriguez finished the game 4-for-6 with two runs scored and two RBI. Kort was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI and raised his batting average to .398.
Junior pitcher Kyle Howe defeated San Jose State for the second time this season and is now 4-3 on the season. He scattered 11 hits over five innings and allowed three earned runs with three strikeouts.
Junior Mike Hale (3-for-4, three runs, RBI) and Schmidt (2-for-5, run, RBI) also contributed to the offensive attack.
Nevada will face the No. 5 seed Hawai'i on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Peccole Park in the Pack's first action in the WAC Tournament.