University of North Carolina Athletics
University of Nevada WolfPack Preview
June 21, 1999 | Baseball
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.
