Nevada Wolf Pack set to host Mountain West baseball tournament

The University of Nevada baseball team faces Fresno State on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Mountain West tournament.

The Wolf Pack, the No. 4 seed, is hosting the tournament for the first time since 2015. Fresno State, the MW regular season champion, is the No. 1 seed.

The tournament, to be played at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park, begins at 2 p.m. on Thursday when second-seed San Diego State faces third-seed UNLV.

Nevada is 8-12 all-time in the Mountain West tournament, with its best run coming in 2016 in coach T.J. Bruce’s first season at Nevada. The Pack reached the championship round for the first time that year.

During the 2019 regular season, the Pack went 3-3 against UNLV, 2-4 against San Diego State and 0-3 against Fresno State.

Nevada is led offensively by Jaylon McLaughlin who is fifth in the MW with a .347 batting average. Nevada has smacked 48 homers on the year, good for the third-most in the conference with 10 coming from Weston Hatten and eight by Joshua Zamora.

The Pack has boasted the best defense of any team in the conference this season, posting a .976 fielding percentage and the team ERA of 4.61 is the third-best in the conference, led by relievers Bradley Bonnenfant and Grant Ford who combine for 11 wins.