Nevada shuts out Seattle

The Nevada Wolf Pack and Seattle Redhawks couldn't wait to get out of Peccole Park on Sunday.

The Wolf Pack beat the Redhawks 2-0 on a two-run home run by Carlos Escobar in the eighth inning in a sprint that lasted just 1:57.

The victory gave the Pack four victories in its last five games to improve to 10-17 on the year.

The 117-minute game, which was witnessed by 715 fans, started at 11 a.m. because the Redhawks had to catch an early flight back home and ended before the Pack's normal start time (1 p.m.) on a Sunday afternoon.

It is the quickest nine-inning game the Pack has played at Peccole Park since it beat Utah Valley 3-1 in a mere 1:53 behind a complete-game, 78-pitch masterpiece by pitcher Kyle Howe on April 12, 2008.

The Pack used two pitchers to completely shut down the Redhawks on three singles on Sunday.

Brock Stassi, making just his third start of the season, went four innings and allowed just two hits. The senior left-hander, who struggled in his first two starts of the year against Washington and Utah Valley, struck out six and walked four before leaving after issuing a leadoff walk in the fifth.

Jeremy Cole then took over from there.

The senior right-hander was brilliant, allowing just one base runner (a leadoff single in the ninth) over the final five innings. Cole, who earned the victory to improve to 2-2, retired the first 12 Seattle hitters and never got to a three-ball count on any hitter he faced.

Cole has been as good as any pitcher in the Western Athletic Conference over his last three outings. The 6-footer from Rocklin, Calif., has allowed just 12 hits, two walks and three runs with seven strikeouts over his last three appearances (one start) and 16.1 innings against Washington, UC Davis and Seattle for a 1.65 earned run average.

The Wolf Pack offense also contributed to the fast pace of the game. The Pack got just two hits -- Escobar's homer in the eighth and a double by Brian Barnett in the second.

Barnett, who led off the inning, advanced to third on a lineout to center by Garrett Yrigoyen and was thrown out at home on a grounder to third by Curtis Frisbie to keep the Pack off the scoreboard.

The Wolf Pack's game-winning rally in the eighth started with a one-out walk to Waylen Sing Chow. Escobar then sent an 0-1 pitch over the left-center field fence for a 2-0 lead.

The sophomore catcher has been on a tear lately. The home run extended his hitting streak to 11 games. The 6-foot-3 Escobar now has four home runs in his last seven games.

The victory on Sunday was the Pack's third game this season that finished in under two hours. The Pack lost to California 2-0 on March 21 at Berkeley, Calif., in 1:57 and lost 2-1 at UC Santa Barbara on March 19 in just 1:53.

The Pack beat San Jose State 5-0 on May 8, 2010 at Peccole Park in just 1:42 but that game was just seven innings because it was the second game of a WAC doubleheader. They also beat Fresno State at Peccole Park 14-4 on March 24, 2010 in just 1:57 in another seven-inning second game of a WAC doubleheader.

Seattle fell to 12-14 with the loss.

The Pack, which was 6-0 against Seattle in 2010, won the weekend series, 2-1. The Wolf Pack rallied from a 10-3 deficit on Saturday to win 11-10 with six runs in the bottom of the ninth on a grand slam by Joe Kohan and a game-winning two-run homer by Yrigoyen.

The Pack will host San Francisco State on Tuesday (2 p.m.) at Peccole Park.