Junior second baseman Keaton Smith hit a grand slam in the fourth inning and senior Cooper Powell tossed six scoreless innings as three Nevada pitchers combined on a shutout as the Wolf Pack (26-19) defeated San Francisco (25-24) 6-0 at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park Tuesday afternoon. The Pack has won a season-high five in a row to improve to 26-19 on the season while the Dons dropped to 25-24. Nevada won both meetings with USF this season.

The Mountain West-leading Wolf Pack (17-6 MW) plays at intrastate rival UNLV (30-19, 11-13 MW) on Friday at 6 p.m. Saturday’s game is set for 2 p.m. and Sunday’s finale is slated for 1 p.m. Listen to John Ramey will call the action on 94.1 FM/1450 AM. The broadcast is also available online at www.NevadaWolfPack.com/audio.

After three scoreless innings Nevada scored six runs on three hits in the bottom of the fourth inning to account for all the scoring in the game. Right fielder Mike Echavia got the inning started with a solo home run to left center field. A walk to Grant Fennell, followed by a single from Daniel Perry and an error on a bunt by Chase Grant loaded the bases for Tyler Bosetti. Bosetti walked to drive in the Pack’s second run of the inning and it kept the bases loaded, which resulted in a pitching change by USF. After two balls Smith hit the third pitch he saw over the left field fence for a grand slam and that would be all the scoring in the game as Nevada won 6-0.

Powell retired the first six hitters of the game and pitched six scoreless innings to earn his second win of the season. The six innings is a career-high and he tied his career high with four strikeouts. Bradley Bonnenfant followed with a shutout inning and Austin Dick pitched two scoreless innings as the trio combined for Nevada’s fourth shutout of the season. Alex Pham (1-1) suffered the loss allowing five runs, four earned in three innings.

Echavia (2-for-4,2R,RBI,HR) led the Pack with two hits and drove in a run with is fifth homer of the season. Smith (1-for-4,R,4RBI,HR) finished with a game-high four RBI coming on the grand slam. Brady Bate (3-for-4) had three hits for the Dons.

Notes:

Nevada has won a season-high five games in a row.

The Wolf Pack won both meetings with USF this season.

Three Pack pitchers combined for Nevada’s fourth shutout of the season.

Keaton Smith hit his second grand slam at Nevada with the first coming at home against Air Force last season on March 24, 2017.

Echavia has reached base in a team season-high 25 games.

Fennell has reached base in the last 24 games.