Sacramento State and Nevada meet at 3 p.m. on Thursday in the WAC Tournament.
MESA, Ariz. - No. 3 seed Nevada defeated No. 6 seed Louisiana Tech, 4-3, on Wednesday to set up the Wolf Pack with a second round match-up against No. 2 seed Sacramento State at 3 p.m. on Thursday in the second round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament at Hohokam Park.
Nevada catcher Carlos Escobar Jr. hit a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence for a solo walk-off home run to break a 3-3 tie with the Bulldogs. Louisiana Tech took an early 3-1 lead, but Nevada tied it on Joe Kohan's bases-loaded single in the bottom of the sixth.
Nevada pitcher Bradey Shipley, the 2012 WAC Pitcher of the Year, allowed three runs on five hits and threw a career-high 138 pitches in a complete game win for the Wolf Pack.
On Thursday, Sacramento State head coach Reggie Christiansen will throw sophomore RHP Dallas Chadwick (4-1, 4.03 ERA) while Nevada will counter with junior RHP Tom Jameson (7-2, 2.19).
The Hornets (29-26) shared the WAC regular season title with the Wolf Pack (31-23) but took 2-of-3 games from them at home in a regular season conference series.
In the regular season, Chadwick baffled the Nevada hitters in game one of the series and the Redding, Calif., native earned WAC Pitcher of the Week honors after giving up just five hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts. Relievers Tyler Hoelzen and R.J. Davis combined with Chadwick to shut out Nevada in a 2-0 victory.
Sacramento State, which took game one and game two from Nevada, lost, 9-1, when Jameson started the third game of the series. The Hornets tallied 11 hits in eight innings against the 6-foot-7 right-hander, but scored only one run. Andrew Ayers, the WAC Player of the Year, hit .627 in the series (7-for-11) against Nevada and went 3-for-4 versus Jameson. Hunter Adrian also had success against Jameson, going 2-for-4 with a run scored.
More game specific notes below with overall tournament notes in PDF format linked above the photo:
- Sacramento State's last WAC Tournament game was against Nevada. The Hornets lost 15-5 to the Wolf Pack and were eliminated in their third game of the 2008 WAC Tournament. That game was played exactly four years ago today (May 24, 2008).
- In that game against Nevada in 2008, then-freshman Trevor Paine pitched 0.2 innings, allowing one run on one hit with a walk. Due to injury, Paine, now a senior, made the move from the mound to the field before the 2010 seeason and has had great success. Paine is a career .326 hitter with 13 home runs and was named second team all-WAC at designated hitter after hitting .301 with 13 doubles, three home runs and 30 RBIs in 42 starts this season.
- Sacramento State is 1-6 all-time in three WAC Tournament appearances and this is head coach Reggie Christiansen's first trip to the league's postseason tourney. Nevada is 11-12 in six WAC Tournament appearances, each coming under head coach Gary Powers.
- Sacramento State and Nevada each won their first WAC regualr season titles this year, along with New Mexico State as the three schools each tallied identical 11-7 league records. However, due to their records against one another, New Mexico State earned the No. 1 seed (4-2), Sacramento State took the No. 2 seed (3-3) and Nevada claimed the No. 3 seed (2-4).
- Sacramento State and Nevada have both never won a WAC Tournament title.
