BSB PREVIEW: Lancers Hit Road to Reno

Thursday, March 5

Reno, Nev.

3:00 PM

California Baptist University

Nevada

Photo by: Reagan Lee

BSB PREVIEW: Lancers Hit Road to Reno

3/2/2020 12:44:00 PM | Baseball

By: Andrew Shortall, Director of Athletics Communications

RENO – Coming off its first series sweep of the season, California Baptist University will take the show on the road for a five-game road trip that starts with a four-game set at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The Lancers and Wolf Pack will be playing their first-ever series. Nevada is a storied program coming off a 30-win season and finished one win shy of advancing to the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship in 2019. It led to the Wolf Pack being picked to finish third in the MWC, with two first-place votes, in the conference's preseason coaches poll.

CBU and Nevada find themselves moving in different directions. The Lancers are on a three-game winning streak and have won four of their last five to improve to 5-5 this year. Nevada, meanwhile, has started the season 0-9.

Ten games in, CBU is hitting .296 as a team and being led by Nick Plaia, who was named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week on Monday. Plaia is batting .441 on the year, with a .618 slugging and .537 on-base percentages for an OPS of 1.155.

Chad Castillo (.325), Ulises Caballero (.323) and Damon Keith (3.00) are all hitting .300 or above while playing in at least nine games this year, while John Glenn leads the team in runs batted in (10).

Bryan Pope and Chris Burica have settled into their roles in the starting rotations, with respective earned-run averages of 2.89 and 3.31. Jorge Valerio logged his second save of the save on Sunday, while Matt Amrhein, Mason McGarvey and Jacob McCarvel have all made at least three appearances this season.

SERIES INFORMATION
Opponent: Nevada
Dates/Times: Thursday, March 5 (3 p.m.); Friday, March 6 (3 p.m.); Saturday, March 7 (1 p.m.); Sunday, March 8 (12 p.m.)
Location: Don Weird Field at Peccole Park (Reno, Nev.)
Radio: CBULancers.com/radio
Live Stats: NevadaWolfpack.com/Sidearmstats

The Wolf Pack's record is deceptive, as it has played 10-1 Portland and the University of Oregon on the road and faced an 8-2 Wichita State team. Five of Nevada's games have been decided by two runs or less, with a 6-4 loss at Portland, a pair of the 3-2 losses to the Ducks, a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Hofstra and most recently a 3-1 loss to Wichita State last Saturday.

Nevada had three position players named Preseason All-Mountain West: senior outfielder Jayson McLaughlin, senior first baseman Dillan Shrum and junior third baseman Joshua Zamora. Shrum is leading the Pack's offense this season, with a .313 batting average (10-for-32) and a .688 slugging percentage, thanks to three doubles and three home runs. Conor Allard hasn't been a consistent start for Nevada, but is hitting .308 so far.

Jake Jackson, Owen Sharts and Shane O'Malley have been Nevada's starting pitchers this season. Sharts has been the game-one starter all year, while Jackson has usually taken the middle game and O'Malley filling in for the third game.

Jackson's 3.57 ERA is best among the trio, while Sharts is a strikeout pitcher, with 27 punchouts in 17.1 innings. Clayton Westrope has been the team's top reliever so far, as he's made four appearances and has only given up one hit and no runs for a 0.50 WHIP and .143 batting average against.

Notables:

Nevada lost just five letterwinners from last season and return seven starting position players and three starting pitchers.
The Wolf Pack have won five conference titles, most recently in 2018, and made four NCAA postseason appearances – last in 2000.
Over the last 31 seasons, Nevada has won 66.8 percent of its home games, with a 561-278 record at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park, which holds 3,000 fans.
Nineteen former Wolf Pack players have gone on to have Major League Baseball experience, including Ryan Church, Chris Dickerson, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Lyle Overbay and Chad Qualls.