Nevada home opener set (weather permitting)

Weather permitting, not only will the University of Nevada baseball team finally get a chance to play at home today, it will get another shot at a nationally ranked opponent.

The Wolf Pack is scheduled to host Loyola Marymount, ranked No. 20 nationally by Baseball America, in the opener of a three-game weekend series in Reno. Today's game time is set for 2 p.m. at Peccole Park.

Nevada is 11-6 overall to date, including one win over then-No. 1 Stanford, while playing each of its 17 games away from home. Loyola is 9-3 and riding a three-game win streak. Loyola and Nevada are ranked No. 31 and 32 in the nation, respectively, by USA Today/Baseball Weekly.

This is a rematch of last year's losers bracket at the NCAA Stanford Regional, where Nevada scored twice in the ninth inning to pull out a 4-3 thriller. Loyola returns nearly its entire pitching staff from that team.

Nevada senior right-hander Chad Qualls earned Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week honors for his performance last Friday in Las Vegas - an eight-hit, 5-0 victory against UNLV. Qualls is 3-0 on the season.

Darrell Rasner, a freshman from Carson City, is the Wolf Pack's top winner with a 5-0 record. Rasner has a 2.38 ERA with 27 strikeouts and six walks in 34 innings of work.

The weekend series is scheduled to continue with single games at 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.