Pack too aggressive in loss to Fresno

 The Nevada Wolf Pack baseball team might have been a little too aggressive Friday night at Peccole Park.

 "Their pitcher was struggling," Wolf Pack coach Gary Powers said after an 8-3 loss to the Fresno State Bulldogs. "We had our chances. But we were swinging at pitches off the tops of our shoe tops instead of up in the zone like they were."

 The Bulldogs took advantage of enough pitches up in the zone to bash three home runs -- two by Dusty Robinson -- and five doubles and a triple to coast to the victory in the opener of this Western Athletic Conference series.

 "We had our opportunities in the first four innings to take back control of this game," said Powers, whose team dropped to 20-14-1 overall and 1-3-1 in the WAC.

 The Pack, which saw its four-game winning streak vanish with the loss, did have plenty of opportunities in the early innings.

 Fresno took a 3-0 lead just three hitters into the game off Wolf Pack starter Chris Garcia. Danny Muno walked, Garrett Weber doubled in Muno and Robinson's first homer of the night sailed 420 feet over the center field fence for the 3-0 lead.

 The Pack and Garcia, though, settled down to tie the game at 3-3 after three innings. Kevin Rodland tripled and scored on a ground out to short by Westley Moss in the first inning to cut Fresno's lead to 3-1. Kort singled home Moss and later scored on a ground out to second by Nick Melino as the Pack tied the game at 3-3 with two runs in the third.

 The Pack, though, did waste opportunities to take the lead. They left the bases loaded in the first after Fresno Starter Josh Poytress hit Melino and walked Brian Barnett with two outs. Brock Stassi was thrown out at home on a ground out to short by Barnett in the third inning with one out. Barnett then stole second and was stranded when Joe Kohan fanned to end the inning.

 Garcia, who suffered the loss to fall to 4-2, pitched a scoreless second and third inning. The Reed High graduate, however, was tagged for three doubles with two outs in the fourth as Fresno scored three runs to take a 6-3 lead.

 "He obviously had a focus problem to start the game," Powers said. "He wasn't concentrating on the things he needed to concentrate on. It wasn't physical. It was a mental thing."

 The Pack, though, loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth with just one out as Michael Turay walked followed by singles by Moss and Kort. Muno, the Bulldogs' second baseman, then turned in the defensive play of the game to preserve the lead for Fresno. Muno ranged far to his left to flag down a hard-hit ground ball off the bat of Stassi that appeared headed to right field.

 "That was a huge play," Powers said. "Give them credit."

 The Pack bats fell silent over the final five innings. The Pack did not get a hit over the final five innings and managed just two base runners on walks to Rodland in the sixth and Kort in the seventh.

 Fresno reliever Sean Bonesteele dominated the Pack hitters over the final four innings. Bonesteele, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, picked up his first save of the year as he allowed just two walks and no hits over the final four innings.

 The Bulldogs, now 23-16 and 6-3, added single runs in the seventh and eighth. Jordan Ribera hit his 16th home run in the seventh off Pack reliever Beau Witsoe and Robinson his his second of the night, and eighth of the year, in the eighth off reliever Tony Fagan.

 The Wolf Pack and Bulldogs will play a doubleheader Saturday at Peccole Park starting at 1 p.m.