The University of Nevada baseball team held on for an 11-10 victory over Saint Mary's College Tuesday afternoon at Peccole Park to even its record at 6-6 on the season while the Gaels dropped to 8-4-1. After starting the season 0-5 the Wolf Pack has now won five of their last six games.
With the game tied at 7-7 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning the Pack exploded for four runs to take an 11-7 lead. Terry Walsh walked to get the inning started and moved to second on a balk. With one down Kevin Rodland was hit by pitch and pinch hitter Mike Hale followed with an RBI single to put Nevada on top 8-7. David Ciarlo laced a single up the middle to score Rodland to make it a two run contest. A sacrifice fly by Jason Sadoian scored Hale and Ciarlo scored the fourth run of the big inning on a wild pitch.
Saint Mary's would not go away scoring two runs in the eighth to make the score 11-9. Michael Cipolla drove in one of the runs and pinch hitter Justin Fazio plated the other with an RBI single. In the ninth Kyle Jensen hit a two-out solo home run to make it a one run game at 11-10. Designated hitter Anthony Aliotti was caught looking by Brock Stassi for the final out of the game as the Pack held on for the 11-10 victory.
The Gaels scored a run in first but Nevada struck for two in the bottom of the inning to take a 2-1 lead after an inning of play. Saint Mary's got an RBI single from Cipolla in the second to tie the game and scored two more in the third to go in front 4-2.
In the fourth the Pack scored four runs on three hits to regain the lead 6-4. Jason Rodriguez drove in the last two with his second home run of the year. Saint Mary's tied the game with two in the when Geoff Byrnes hit a two-run homer.
Again the Pack scored a run to go back in front in the bottom of the fifth when Rodland's single scored Walsh, who reached on a double. The Gaels got a home run from Cipolla in the sixth to knot the game at 7-7 where it remained until the Pack scored four in the seventh to take the lead for good.
Sammy Miller (1-0), the fourth of five Pack pitchers in the game, got the win allowing two runs, one earned in 1.1 innings on the mound. Miller struck out three and did not walk a batter. Freshman left-hander Brock Stassi recorded his first save pitching the final 1.2 innings and gave up one run on two hits. Justin Kuks (0-1) was tagged with the loss for Saint Mary's giving up two runs on one hit but walked two in 1.1 innings of action.
Rodriguez and Walsh led the Pack with three hits on the day. Sadoian, Dayton's Matt Bowman, Rodland and Ciarlo added two hits apiece. Ciarlo extended his career-high hit streak to 11 games while Sadoian and former Western Nevada College standout Tyson Jaquez had their streaks reach eight games.
For Saint Mary's Cory Miller, Ryan Mulligan and Cipolla all had three hits each. The Wolf Pack next host UC Davis at 2 p.m. today.