RENO - The University of Nevada scored seven times in the fifth and sixth innings to secure a 7-1 victory against Pacific in its final regular season game on Sunday afternoon.
There was more good news on the way to Peccole Park, however, because the Wolf Pack caught some outside help in Southern California to earn a share of the Big West Conference championship.
Long Beach State supplied the outside help with a 9-5 win against Cal State Fullerton, a decision that dropped the Titans into a first-place tie with Nevada in the final Big West standings. Both teams ended the conference season with 21-9 records.
Fullerton still got the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament - by virtue of having beat Nevada head-to-head in five of six meetings this season - but the Wolf Pack will be looking for an at-large berth when the postseason field is announced today at noon.
Matt Rainer, Ryan Church and Jay Kenny combined to pitch four-hit ball for the Wolf Pack against Pacific on Sunday. Rainer (6-4) allowed one run on four hits through seven innings, Church pitched the eighth and Kenny came on to get the final out in the ninth.
Josh Laidlaw hit 3-for-4 and drove in two runs to lead the offense for Nevada, which is now riding a seven-game win streak.
Nevada was coming off an 8-6 win on Saturday, a game that was decided by Don Price's two-run homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth.
Carson City freshman Darrell Rasner pitched seven innings and departed with the score tied, 6-6, denying him a chance to post his 14th win of the season.
FEATHER RIVER 1-2 IN PLAYOFFS
Jeremy Kinney and Jason Price combined to pitch Feather River College to victory in the first game of the Northern California community college regional tournament Friday in Fresno. But then the Golden Eagles from Quincy, Calif., were eliminated from the four-team tournament with back-to-back losses to Fresno City and College of the Sequoias on Saturday.
Feather River was a 4-3 victor over Canada College in the opening round at Euless Park, behind the pitching of Kinney, a Dayton High School graduate, and Price, a Carson High grad. Price came on with two outs in the ninth and got a strikeout to earn his first save of the season.
Price, who came into the tournament with a 11-3 record and 2.67 ERA, came back to pitch in a 12-9 loss to Fresno City on Saturday afternoon. The right-hander, who is bound for the University of Nevada this fall, allowed two hits through five innings and had a 6-1 lead before the 100-degree heat appeared to catch up. Fresno City (34-11) scored 11 runs in their final three at-bats to win the game.
Feather River was eliminated from the tournament Saturday night with a 3-2 loss to Sequoias (Visalia, Calif.). Feather River scored once in the top of the ninth to tie the score, 2-2, but Sequoias won it with one run in the bottom half of the inning.
