Dayton's Matt Bowman inside-the-park, two-run home run proved to be the difference for the University of Nevada baseball team in a 7-5 win over Utah Valley State on Sunday at Peccole Park.
Bowman and former Western Nevada College standout Tyson Jaquez continued to stand out as the Wolf Pack finished off a four-game sweep of the Wolverines. The Wolf Pack improved to 21-14 on the season while the Wolverines dropped to 7-24-1.
Nevada struck first with a run in the the first inning. With one down Bowman walked and scored on a double to the left centerfield gap by Jason Rodriguez.
The Wolverines tied the game at 1-1 with a run in second. Kevin Arendse doubled with one down and eventually scored on Jake Rickenbach's RBI single up the middle. The Wolverines threatened to take the lead in the inning but left the bases loaded.
In the bottom of the second the Pack scored a run to move back in front 2-1. David Ciarlo singled, moved to second on a single by Jaquez and scored on Jason Sadoian's base hit. Bowman was hit by pitch to load the bases but Rodriguez popped out to shortstop to end the inning. Mike Hale made it 3-1 with a solo home run to right field in the third.
The Wolverines closed to within 3-2 in the fourth inning when Cole Anderson and Scott Croshaw hit back-to-back doubles. Nevada got the run back in the bottom of the fourth when designated hitter Terry Walsh singled home Sadoian, who began the inning with a single and it was 4-2.
The Pack continued its string of scoring a single run in each inning with one in the fifth. With two down Kevin Rodland was hit by pitch and later scored on Bowman's RBI single.
The Wolverines got a two-out solo home run from Jace Brinkerhoff in the seventh. Bowman hit an inside the park two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh when left fielder Tyler Garretson ran into the wall trying to make the catch. Jaquez scored on the homer after he reached base on an error.
In the ninth inning the Wolverines scored on Brinkerhoff's two-out, two RBI double to make the final score 7-5. Both runners that scored on the double reached on walks. With the tying run at the plate Garretson grounded out to second base to end the game.
Reliever Mario Rivera allowed two runs on three hits in four innings to earn his second win of the season. Wolverine starter Marcus Moore (4-5) was tagged with the loss after giving up three runs on seven hits in 2.2 innings of action.
Bowman went 2-for-4 with three RBI and Sadoian, Walsh and Jaquez all went 2-for-4 for Nevada. Brinkerhoff went 4-for-5 with three RBI and Arendse was 2-for-4 for the Wolverines.
The Pack returns to Western Athletic Conference action on Friday when it begins a four-game series at Hawaii with a game that begins at 9:35 p.m.