RENO - Gary Powers hopes his Nevada Wolf Pack baseball team learns from Sunday's 6-4 loss to the Central Arkansas Bears.
"We didn't execute," the Pack coach said after 747 fans saw the Wolf Pack fail to complete a three-game sweep of the Bears at Peccole Park. "In a few situations we didn't even put the ball in play and that really hurt us."
The Wolf Pack never led in falling to 7-4 on the year. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak.
"It came down to simple execution," Powers said.
The Wolf Pack left nine runners on base and hit into three double plays.
Garrett Yrigoyen and Nick Melino struck out after Nick Leid led off the second inning with a double. Leid never left second as Brett Hart grounded out to second to end the inning.
Melino fanned with Yrigoyen on second and nobody out in the fourth. Yrigoyen eventually got to third but was left there after Carlos Escobar struck out to end the inning.
Brian Barnett flied out to left and Leid grounded out to second with two runners on in the fifth. Barnett grounded out to third with two runners on to end the game.
"A couple of guys were out there trying to do too much in certain situations," Powers said.
Powers, though, was impressed with the Central Arkansas bats. The Bears (now 4-6) scored 22 runs in the three games at Peccole Park. If not for an eight-run eighth inning on Saturday, the Pack might have lost two of the three games.
"They did a nice job of getting ahead in the count and taking advantage of situations where we had to throw a fastball," Powers said. "They kept the pressure on us all day and all weekend. They ever backed away."
The Wolf Pack tied the game at 1-1 with a run in the third inning on a run-scoring single by Westley Moss. Moss' infield hit to the first baseman brought home Kevin Rodland, who doubled to open the inning. Rodland had two hits and a walk in the game.
Hart brought home Leid with a ground out in the fourth inning to cut Central Arkansas' lead to 3-2.
Shaun Kort then muscled up in the seventh inning, sending a towering fly ball over the center field fence about 420 feet away for a two-run homer, pulling the Pack to within one run again, 5-4. The home run was Kort's fourth of the season in just 39 at-bats.
Moss, who had three hits, bunted for a hit with two outs and nobody on base in the ninth. The senior then stole his second base of the game (and sixth of the year) and Kort walked to send the potential winning run to the plate in Barnett. Barnett, who homered on both Friday and Saturday, bounced out to third to end the threat.
The Wolf Pack will host Saint Mary's on Wednesday (2 p.m.) at Peccole Park before heading to Cal-State Bakersfield for the start of a three-game series on Friday.