Tom Jameson turned in arguably the best postseason performance by a starting pitcher in Nevada Wolf Pack history on Thursday in the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
Jameson had a perfect game through the second out in the eighth inning as the Wolf Pack kept its season alive with a 3-1 victory over the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz.
The Pack, 6-0 losers in their opening WAC tournament game on Wednesday, will now play in an elimination game on Friday morning (11 a.m.). Nevada, now 35-21-1 this season, will have to win two games on Friday to keep their season alive.
Jameson, an 18-year-old freshman from Reno High, retired the first 23 hitters he faced and allowed just one hit and a walk in eight innings to improve to 6-1 on the season. The first Louisiana Tech hitter to reach base against the 6-foot-6, 210-pound right-hander came on a home run by Clint Ewing with two outs in the eighth inning.
Jameson was removed after walking leadoff hitter Jonathan Mire in the ninth inning. Tyler Graham relieved Jameson and promptly surrendered a single to Ashton Hughes to give the Bulldogs runners on first and second with no outs in the ninth.
Graham, though, settled down to record his 10th save of the year, striking out Mark Threlkeld and getting Alex Williams to fly out to left for the final two outs of the game after Kyle Roliard bunted Mire and Hughes into scoring position. Graham's 10th save ties him with Rico Lagattuta (1995) for the most saves in one season in Wolf Pack history.
Jameson's performance was reminiscent of two recent efforts in the WAC tournament by Pack starting pitchers. Rod Scurry allowed three hits and no runs in an 11-0, seven-inning victory over San Jose State in 2008 and Ryan Rodriguez allowed six hits and one run in another seven-inning victory (11-1) over Hawaii in 2007. Jameson, Scurry (Galena High) and Rodriguez (McQueen) are all northern Nevada products.
Jameson's performance, though, has to be one of the best ever by a Pack starting pitcher in the postseason. The righthander dominated the Bulldogs, striking out four. His effort is the best performance by a Wolf Pack freshman starter in the postseason since Carson High graduate Darrell Rasner went 5.2 innings and allowed just two runs in beating Fresno State, 13-5, in the semifinals of the NCAA Regional at Stanford in 2000.
The Pack, which went scoreless in the tournament over its first 12 innings, gave Jameson a 1-0 lead on a two-out solo homer by Nick Melino in the fourth inning.
Joe Kohan singled with two outs and later scored on a wild pitch to give the Pack a 2-0 lead in the eighth.
The final Pack run came across in the ninth as Melino drove home pinch-runner Jamison Rowe with a single for a 3-1 lead.
The victory broke a four-game losing streak for the Pack in the WAC tournament. It was also the first time the Pack allowed fewer than five runs in a WAC tournament game since Scurry's gem to open the 2008 tournament, a stretch of seven games.
Brock Stassi or Chris Garcia is expected to start Friday morning for the Pack.
