Chris Murray

cmurray@rgj.com

Two years ago, the Nevada baseball team began its season with four games in Texas.

It did so by sweeping three games against Abilene Christian before shocking No. 5-ranked Texas Tech. That start, and largely the win over Texas Tech, sparked Nevada to a record-setting 41-win season.

On Friday, Nevada begins its season in the Lone Star State again and is hoping for a repeat from two years ago. Like in 2015, this year's team will face a nationally ranked team early on with a three-game set against No. 23-ranked Sam Houston State from Friday-Sunday before playing at the Big 12’s Baylor.

“It’s good for us,” senior shortstop Justin Bridgman said of beginning the year with a ranked team. “We started against Texas Tech a couple of years back. That really jump-started that year. That’s something we’re looking forward to doing this year. Some bigger schools like to schedule smaller schools at the start, but for us it’s good to play the top competition in the country. Sam Houston State will really do that for us.”

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Taking the mound for Nevada will be right-hander Trevor Charpie, who was the team’s ace last season with a 5-4 record and 3.74 ERA. Charpie, a preseason All-Mountain West pick, is a one of the few known commodities on the Wolf Pack’s roster, which enters the year ripe with position battles.

Nevada, which went 37-24 last season and reached the MW tournament title game, returns only three full-time position player starters in Bridgman, Jordan Pearce, who is moving from first to third, and outfielder Cole Krzmarzick, who could shift to centerfield. The Wolf Pack has only two starters locked into its rotation – Charpie and Mark Nowaczewski – as well as a set closer in Evan McMahan.

With plenty of positions up for grabs, the Wolf Pack will use the beginning portion of the season sussing out who fits where. Nevada added a nationally ranked recruiting class that includes 12 freshmen that will be counted on to provide some immediate production on a team that should be deeper this season.

“They’re ready,” Nevada baseball coach T.J. Bruce said of his younger players. “They’re not freshmen anymore. It’s February. They’re tested. They’re definitely tested in practice and our intra-squads. It’s just a matter of believing in what they can do and believing in the system and they’ll be just fine.”

Given the youth on its roster, the Wolf Pack could have opted to dial back its strength of schedule this season. Instead, the Wolf Pack ramped up the difficulty. The early portion is especially tough. Nevada opens with ranked Sam Houston State and then Baylor. That’s followed with a four-game home series with Virginia Tech, the first ACC team to visit Peccole Park, and then a series at MW favorite Fresno State.

“The scheduling from here on out is such that we’re going to play the best teams,” said Bruce, whose team’s strength of schedule last year was 220th out of 300 D-I teams. “We’re not going to shy away from anybody. It’s a great early test for our guys and team. We’re young. We’re not shying away from the fact we are young. But this will be a great test for our guys. They’ll get a feel for college baseball real fast.”

Despite the youth and tough early schedule, Nevada is hopeful it will start 2017 off in better fashion than it did last year when the Wolf Pack began the year 5-10. Nevada eventually rallied within one win of a MW regular-season title before maneuvering through the losers’ bracket to reach the conference tournament championship game against New Mexico.

The Wolf Pack believes its start will be better this year because it is the second season under Bruce.

“Last year at this point we were still feeling things out,” Bridgman said. “We didn’t really know what would happen during the year. We didn’t really know how people would react in certain situations. This year, there’s a lot more comfortability throughout the team. Our chemistry is even better. We’re playing for each other more this year than we were last year at this point, and I think that will be the main thing.”

Sam Houston State is coming off a 42-22 season and has reached the NCAA Tournament in seven of the last 10 seasons, including four of the last five. The Bearkats return seven of their eight starting position players as well as its top two starting pitchers, including Heath Donica (10-4, 3.42 ERA), who will start against Nevada on Friday. The Wolf Pack said getting off to a good start against a likely Regional team would be momentum-boosting.

“If we can get out of there 4-0 or 3-1, whatever it is, it would give us some confidence, especially with our younger guys," Krzmarzick said. "They’re going to get thrown right in the mix and having a good first weekend will be important for us as we move on into the season.”

In the last two seasons, Nevada has come up just shy of reaching its first Regional since 2000. It was a bubble team in 2015 that was snubbed on selection day and came up just short in the MW title game in 2016. Only eight of the team’s 32 players were on both of those teams, but they’re driven by the near misses.

“If you talk to the older guys who were a part of last year, a lot of them will tell you it motivated them,” Bruce said. “I watched that conference championship a few days ago. You’re always watching for keys to do better or things to improve upon. I think it’s fueled our guys a little bit. They don’t want to have that feeling anymore. It’s about playing in June and that’s the bottom line. That’s where we’re going.”

WOLF PACK BASEBALL

Who: Nevada (0-0) at No. 23 Sam Houston State (0-0)

When: Friday, 4:30 p.m. (Pacific time)

Where: Don Sanders Stadium (capacity 1,163) at Huntsville, Texas

Radio/Online: 94.1 FM/NevadaWolfPack.com

Pitchers: Nevada RHP Trevor Charpie (5-4, 3.74 ERA) vs. SHSU RHP Heath Donica (10-4, 3.42 ERA)

Series Record: First meeting