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Wolf Pack Attack Spurs Home Sweep of Fresno State
A sweep of Abilene Christian is one thing, but the Diamond Dogs were feeling pretty good about themselves following a high-wire sweep of UC Irvine last weekend and ran into a buzzsaw. Whatever magic they possessed must have been left at Beiden Field, as Nevada (7-0, 3-0 MWC) played a rude host to Fresno State (3-4, 0-3).
Each of the weekend's games evolved into a battle of the bullpens, but Fresno's hurlers proved to be less trustworthy this time around: 12 2/3 innings of work, 11 walks, 18 runs. Wolf Pack first baseman Austin Byler continually had the bat taken out of his hands, but in spite of receiving six walks in three games he did launch a walk-off homer in extra innings on Saturday night. Bulldogs catcher Taylor Ward also continued his strong start at the plate, collecting three more doubles and his second home run of the year.
New Mexico Wins Opening Series at Home Against Sloppy Air Force
Fundamentals betrayed the Falcons for most of the weekend in Albuquerque, much to the home team's delight, as the New Mexico Lobos (5-2, 2-1) took two out of three against Air Force (1-6, 1-2).
Two first-inning errors on Friday led to seven runs and doomed AFA starting pitcher Griffin Jax early, while a whopping six errors led to seven unearned runs on Sunday. In between, Air Force played sound defense and stole the Saturday affair, 8-3, behind homers by Adam Groesbeck, Noah Pierce and Tyler Saleck.
New Mexico's Chris DeVito had himself a fine homestand, launching a three-run homer in Saturday's losing effort while contributing another three RBI in the bounce-back victory on Sunday.
Aztecs Claim Victory in Home-and-Home with UC Riverside
San Diego State (7-1) took care of business against the Big West's Highlanders (5-3), splitting a two-game series at home Thursday and Friday before claiming a two-game sweep on the road over the weekend.
Surprisingly, it was highly touted prospect Bubba Derby who was on the mound for SDSU's loss, though he did strike out eight in five innings while allowing just two runs. Aztecs third baseman Ty France was one of the many who picked up the slack, however: He went 7-for-15 over the four games, including a homer and five RBI.
Emptying the Bench - The Rest of the Mountain West
The San Jose State Spartans (4-4) shook off its road sweep at the hands of Loyola Marymount to come home and take three of four against the Northern Colorado Bears. Center fielder Andre Mercurio smacked his first homer of the year... UNLV (5-2) continued its winning ways at home with a three-game sweep of Pacific. Sunday starting pitcher D.J. Myers may have had the box score of the weekend: 7 innings, 7 hits, 1 run, 7 strikeouts, zero walks.