Nevada baseball opens season in Texas

Returning a key core from last year’s 31 win-team, including consensus preseason All-American Austin Byler, excitement surrounds the University of Nevada baseball team entering the 2015 campaign.

Second-year head coach Jay Johnson and the Wolf Pack, who return seven position starters and all three starting pitchers, open the season this weekend in Texas. The Pack opens with a three-game series at Abilene Christian, beginning today at 2 p.m. at Crutcher Scott Field in Abilene, Texas.

Nevada returns 18 letter winners from 2014 and momentum after a third-place finish at the Mountain West Tournament. With an additional 18 newcomers welcomed into the fold, the Wolf Pack has a roster it feels very confident in.

“I think this is the most talented team I’ve been on since I’ve been here,” said Byler, who was recently named to the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award preseason watch list. “I think we have the talent to do something special this season. But, we need a narrow mindset of one pitch at a time in order to do that.”

The Wolf Pack returns three players who batted over .300 in 2014 - Byler (.330), senior Kewby Meyer (.328) and sophomore Trenton Brooks (.330) – and starters Jordan Devencenzi, Justin Bridgman, Jay Anderson and Kyle Hunt. On the mound, Nevada returns starters Jason Deitrich, Michael Fain and Barry Timko, and reliever Adam Whitt.

The Wolf Pack will play the Wildcats on Friday (2 p.m.), Saturday (12 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m.) before traveling to Lubbock, Texas, to take on 12th-ranked Texas Tech on Tuesday at 12 p.m.

Pack hoops falls to Aggies

The Nevada men’s basketball team fell Tuesday at Utah State, 75-62.

The Wolf Pack was led by 14 points from Eric Cooper Jr., while Tyron Criswell added 12 and A.J. West had 10.

Utah State, meanwhile, came out on fire as the Aggies shot 63.6 percent (14 of 22) from the floor in the first half including five 3-points to take a 42-33 halftime lead.

The Aggies had four players in double figures led by Chris Smith (18), Jalen Moore (17), David Collette (14) and Julion Pearre (12).