Nevada baseball notebook: Freshmen making an impact for Pack

RENO -  The Nevada Wolf Pack baseball team might be looking at the early stages of a Fab Four phenomenon.

Four freshmen - Kewby Meyer, Jay Anderson, Kyle Hunt and Austin Byler - have played a huge role in the Wolf Pack's promising 3-1 start to the 2012 season.

Meyer, who plays left field, is hitting .462 (6-for-13) with two doubles and three RBI. He can also play first base and pitch.

"His offense is his strong point right now," Powers said. "He still has some things to learn in left field but that will come. He hasn't played that much out there. That will just take some time."

Anderson, the Pack's center fielder, is hitting .375 (6-for-16) with two triples and two RBI. Hunt, a shortstop, is at .250 (4-for-16) with three RBI and has reached base safely in all four games. Byler, the designated hitter, is at .231 (3-for-13) with a home run and a RBI and has scored three runs.

The Fab Four is at .328 (19-for-58) combined with nine runs scored, two doubles, two triples and a home run and nine RBI through the first four games.

"They played real well and that was good to see because we need those guys to produce for us this year," Pack coach Gary Powers said. "They all had some early-season mistakes but that's to be expected for guys playing their first games at this level."

Byler's home run, which came in a 7-3 victory at San Francisco on Tuesday, is the only home run hit by the Pack so far this season.

"The main thing I was pleased with from all those guys was their approach at the plate," Powers said. "They all stayed within themselves and stayed with the game plan."

Another two newcomers - junior college transfers Brett Jones and Brooks Klein - also played key roles in the Pack's first four games. Jones is hitting .438 (7-for-16) with three doubles and three RBI and Klein is hitting .154 (2-for-13) with one RBI. Jones, who is from Fresno City College, plays first base and already has three multi-hit games. Klein, who plays right field, came from Western Nevada College.

"Our young players weren't intimidated at all," Powers said.

Powers added that the everyday veteran players, like second baseman Joe Kohan, catcher Carlos Escobar and third baseman Garrett Yrigoyen - have also helped ease the transition of the younger players.

"Those veteran guys have done an outstanding job of taking those young players under their wing and making it comfortable for them," Powers said. "All those veteran guys are huge team guys. That's one of the strengths of this team this year. This team this year has a different dynamic than last year. This team gets along with each other and they are all out there for each other and for the success of the team."

WOLF PACK, LOBOS TURN OFF THE POWER: The Wolf Pack and New Mexico Lobos combined to hit no home runs in their three-game series last weekend in Albuquerque, N.M. It is the Wolf Pack's first three-game series where neither team hit a home run in almost five years.

The last time the Pack played a three-game series when it neither hit a home run was March 2-4, 2007 at Peccole Park against UNLV. The Pack won all three games that weekend against the Rebels (5-3, 7-4 and 2-1) behind starters Kyle Howe, Rod Scurry and Ryan Rodriguez and relievers Matt Renfree and Kody Keroher.

Until this past weekend, the Pack went 53 consecutive three-game (or longer) series with at least one home run being hit. The last time the Wolf Pack pitching staff didn't allow a single home run in a three-game (or longer) series was Feb. 4-6, 2005 at Pacific. The Pack won two of the three games that weekend in Stockton, Calif., 5-4 and 1-0 (behind Tim Schoeninger and Adam Colton) before losing 11-2.

Powers isn't concerned about the lack of power.

"This team isn't built that way," Powers said. "Our goal at the plate is to hit line drives. The home runs will come but that's not what we're up there trying to do. We preach line drives."

Powers said New Mexico's Isotopes Park also played a role in keeping the ball in the park last weekend.

"That's a huge park," Powers said. "There were four or five balls that were hit that would have been out of this (Peccole) park."

ANDERSON SETS TONE: Anderson might be one of the keys to this entire Wolf Pack season.

The former football and baseball star at Bishop Amat High in Southern California, is being counted on to fill two important roles this year as the starting center fielder and leadoff hitter.

Anderson has filled both roles extremely well so far. He has hit safely in all four games and has a .444 on base percentage. He has also put down two successful sacrifice bunts and has handled all six of his chances in the field flawlessly.

"All of these young players are a constant work in progress," Powers said. "But he picks things up real fast. He is also a very unselfish player. He's not afraid to put down a sacrifice bunt. He's very team oriented."

MIDDLE RELIEF SHINES: Powers credited the work of middle relievers Tim Culligan and Troy Marks for the Pack's 2-1 series victory last weekend at New Mexico.

"That was the main thing to come out of those three games," Powers said. "Those middle guys stabilized the game for us. They gave us a chance to win all three of those games. That's what we didn't get last year. Last year, when our starters struggled, we were afraid to bring in a middle reliever because by the time they left the game we were getting blown out. That middle relief role is one of the most important roles on the team."

Culligan and Marks each pitched in two of the three games against New Mexico.

Culligan allowed five hits and one run in 4.2 innings and struck out two without walking a hitter. Marks allowed just two hits and a run in 4.1 innings despite walking three and striking out just one.

"(Culligan) has become a real solid guy," Powers said. "He goes out there and he gets after hitters. He competes on every pitch."

Marks was one of the Pack's best pitchers a year ago. He had the third best earned run average on the team (4.21) and allowed just 64 hits in 72.2 innings over 17 appearances (nine starts). Culligan struggled at times in 2011, finishing with a 7.84 ERA over 20.2 innings but he did strike out 16 and walk just seven.

"Both those guys did a great job for us this weekend," Powers said. "That middle relief role is just as important as being a starter."

CIRCLING THE BASES: The Wolf Pack will make its home debut Friday afternoon (2 p.m.) against Utah Valley in the start of a three-game, three-day series . . . Matt Gardner has two saves as the Pack's closer in three appearances. He also pitched a scoreless ninth inning on Tuesday in a 7-3 win at San Francisco . . . The Pack's 3-1 start might not sound like much to get excited about but it has happened just three other times in the past 14 seasons (2002, 2004, 2010) . . . Relievers Barry Timko, Jayson McClaren, Elliott Van Gaver, Sean Prihar and Kody Gorden have combined to make five appearances over 3.1 innings and have allowed just two hits and no runs . . . Second baseman Joe Kohan, who will bring a .571 average (8-for-14) into Friday's home opener, was named the Western Athletic Conference's Hitter of the Week on Monday for his work against New Mexico. Kohan also has a pair of doubles and four RBI already this season . . . Powers said he will stick with the same three-man rotation (Brady Shipley, Tyler Wells, Tom Jameson) this weekend against Utah Valley that started the three games at New Mexico.