The Nevada Wolf Pack baseball team isn't worried about earning any style points right now.
"Anytime we win a game it's big for us, " Wolf Pack coach Gary Powers said after a 5-4 victory over the Utah Valley Wolverines Friday night at Peccole Park.
The Wolf Pack, which had lost six of its last seven games before Friday, is now 6-15 on the season.
"It was a good game to win especially with the way it started," Powers said.
Wolf Pack starting pitcher Tom Jameson spotted Utah Valley leads of 2-0 in the first inning and 4-2 in the third.
"Tom had no focus," Powers said. "He couldn't do anything with any pitch. That's just a concentration thing. He couldn't dial it in and get in any rhythm."
Jameson battled through five innings against the 2010 Great West Conference champion Wolverines and actually picked up his second victory of the season against four defeats. The sophomore from Reno High allowed seven hits and four runs and walked two with three strikeouts.
"We were fortunate to get five innings of out him," Powers said.
The Wolf Pack wiped out Utah Valley's early 2-0 lead with two runs of its own in the first inning as Joe Kohan drilled a two-run homer. The homer was Kohan's first of the year (and the fourth of his three-year Pack career) and his first since May 23, 2010 against Louisiana Tech.
The Wolf Pack, which had hit just one home run in its last nine games before Friday, also used the long ball to take the lead in the fifth off Utah Valley starter Jeremy Gendlek. Gendlek, who allowed eight hits and five runs in six innings to suffer the loss, had tossed a three-hit shutout against Sacramento State in his last outing.
The fifth inning started with consecutive doubles by Curtis Frisbie and Carlos Escobar as the Pack cut the Wolverines' lead to 4-3. Nick Melino then gave the Pack its first lead of the night (5-4) two batters later with a two-run homer, scoring Escobar ahead of him.
The home run was Melino's second of the year and his first since he connected against UC Davis on March 8. Melino, who had two hits to lift his team-best average to .380, now has 13 career homers in three seasons at Nevada.
"He really had a great swing on that pitch," said Powers of Melino's timely home run. "He really stayed on that ball. That was a big at-bat for us."
Melino's towering home run produced the final runs of the game as both team's bullpens dominated the final four innings.
Wolf Pack reliever Troy Marks was sharp, allowing just one hit and no runs over three innings in relief of Jameson. Marks didn't walk a hitter and struck out four.
"He did a nice job of throwing strikes and keeping the ball down," Powers said. "That's the key to success. This team needs that type of effort now."
Matt Gardner, one of the hottest pitchers in the Western Athletic Conference, then wrapped up the victory with a perfect ninth inning for his fourth save. The Damonte Ranch High graduate has not allowed an earned run this season over nine appearances and 9.2 innings. He also has 13 strikeouts.
"Troy and Matt Gardner have really done a nice job for us in relief," Powers said.
The Wolf Pack and Wolverines (6-15) will meet again on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Peccole Park.
