University of North Carolina Athletics
Heels Face A Different Kind of Wolfpack
June 21, 1999 | Baseball
May 25, 1999
The North Carolina Tar Heels will take on the
University of Nevada WolfPack from the Big West conference
on Friday at 6:00 p.m. EDT from the Sunken Diamond on the
campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.
This will mark Nevada's third appearance in the NCAA baseball
tournament. The WolfPack also made the tournament in 1994 and 1997.
Nevada (36-18, 21-9) finished second in the Big West conference behind
Cal-State Fullerton (44-11, 25-5). CS-Fullerton and third-place
finisher Long Beach St. (33-23, 19-11) also made this year's
tournament. The Big West does not have a conference tournament.
Nevada and North Carolina have never played each other, but the
WolfPack is familiar with both Stanford and Loyola Marymount, the
other two teams in the regional. Nevada and Stanford split a pair of
games this season, with Nevada taking a 7-4 win at Palo Alto before
dropping a 16-14 slugfest to the Cardinal at Reno.
Nevada swept a three-game series from Loyola at Los Angeles in
February, winning 10-2, 13-5 and 7-5.
The WolfPack, with a team-batting average of .333, is led offensively
by Lyle Overbay and Don Price. Overbay leads the team in hitting with
a .427 batting average and in base hits with 96
to go along with his 86 RBI. Price, a home-town
hero from Reno, enters the NCAA tournament as one of the hottest
hitters in the country. Price, who leads Nevada in home runs with 27,
has homered in 21 of his last 23 games. Price also leads the WolfPack
with 88 RBI and an amazing .805 slugging percentage.
Joe Inglett leads the WolfPack with a .520 on-base pct.
and in runs scored with 82 while batting .399. Matt Ortiz supplies
additional power with 11 home runs and 67 RBI.
Defensively, Nevada is led by the pitching tandem of Chad Qualls and
Matt Rainer. Qualls, a 6-3, 185 righthanded junior, is 11-3 (4.81 ERA) with a
team-high 76 strikeouts. Rainer, a 6-5, 205 sophomore righty, is 10-3 (4.81 ERA)
with 62 strikeouts. Reliever Scott Albin (4-3) leads Nevada in saves with eight
while recording a 2.55 ERA. The WolfPack has a team ERA of 5.68.
Nevada had a 16-4 record at home, while going 15-12 on the road and 5-2 at
neutral sites.
In previous NCAA tournament action Nevada has won two games while dropping four.
In the 1994 Central Regional the WolfPack topped Texas-San Antonio 11-8 before
losing 16-6 to Texas and 4-2 to Arkansas State. In 1997 Nevada dropped its
opening Central Regional game 13-9 to Clemson, then came back to top
Southwest Texas St. 7-1. Southwest Missouri St. then knocked the WolfPack out of
the tournament with a 10-9 win.
