Surprising Nevada Really Packs a Punch

The University of Nevada baseball team probably ranks among the most surprising in Division I this season, considering that the Wolf Pack toppled the likes of Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton to win the Big West Conference championship and gain an NCAA Regional berth for the first time in the program’s 24-year history.

UCLA pitcher Bobby Kazmirski became a Wolf Pack believer in a brief outing on Saturday.

“Those guys could flat out crush it at times,” Kazmirski said.

The right-handed reliever from Agoura High was mopping up in a 12-3 loss when he hung a slider to Nevada sophomore catcher Shane Slayton from Royal High. Slayton hit it 430 feet over the left-field fence.

The next batter, Anthony Basoco, was hit in the back with a slider from Kazmirski and a bench-clearing brawl followed.

“(Hitting Basoco) was an accident,” Kazmirski said. “If I hit anyone, it would have been Slayton, because he stood there and looked at (his home run) for a while.”

Said Slayton: “He was a little cocky. I guess if you hit a ball that far, you can watch it.”

The Bruins took two of three games at Nevada (40-13), becoming only the second team to win a series this season against the Wolf Pack, ranked 14th by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball magazines.

Nevada is the second-seeded team in the Central Regional at Austin, Tex. Also in that regional are Stanford, Texas and top-seeded Oklahoma. Nevada opens against Texas San Antonio (39-16) on Friday.

Slayton, who carries a .350 batting average, is tied for the team lead in home runs (10) and is second in runs batted in (52), walks (34) and slugging percentage (.607). He strikes out only once every 10.7 at-bats. Freshman infielder Andy Dominique (Alemany) is batting .333, and ranks second in home runs (eight) and third in RBIs (49).

Slayton batted .529 with 11 doubles, eight home runs and 49 RBIs in his senior year at Royal and was disappointed when he was not selected in the baseball amateur draft. He said that pro scouts were scared off by rumors that he would demand a high signing bonus.

In part because he had a 2.3 grade-point average at Royal, Nevada was the only school to offer him a scholarship. But he has no regrets. He loves Reno, where more than 5,000 fans attended the series against UCLA even though the spring semester ended two weeks earlier.

“We get great fan support here,” he said. “We get a lot of families and little kids from the community, even when we’re doing bad and it’s 45 degrees with the wind blowing. The people are nice and the crowds are unbelievable. I sign about a hundred balls after each game.”

Nine Southern California players play for the Wolf Pack. Among them are pitchers Chris Garza (2-0 record, 14 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings), a freshman from Notre Dame; Rico Lagattuta (3-3, tied for the team lead with six saves), a sophomore from Westlake, and David Brown (eight hits, 10 RBIs), a freshman reserve outfielder from Royal.

“(Nevada assistant coach John Savage) was recruiting us for two years before we got here,” Garza said. “He told us it was an up-and-coming program. It’s worked out really well.”

Checking the fax: Garza, before suffering an early-season elbow injury, beat then-15th-ranked Stanford in his first college start on March 1. In the regional, Nevada could again face Stanford, which features sophomore right fielder Brodie Van Wagenen from Crespi (.275 batting average). Garza also will be reunited with Oklahoma pitcher Russell Ortiz (28 strikeouts in 32 innings). The two were teammates as freshmen at Montclair Prep. . . .

Other Valley players headed to regional play: Junior center fielder Jacob Cruz (Channel Islands) has a .407 average, 11 home runs and 58 RBIs for Arizona State in the Midwest Regional. USC’s J.P. Roberge (St. Francis), a junior first baseman, is batting .323 with 41 RBIs and 18 stolen bases and senior Mike Mancuso (Chatsworth) starts at catcher. USC will play in the South Regional. . . .

Long Beach State, which plays in the Midwest II Regional, includes Tim Falsken (Westlake), Brian Smith (Agoura/Pierce College), John Swanson (Rio Mesa/Oklahoma State), Jeff Ritter (Agoura/Moorpark College), Angel Aragon (Channel Islands), Rick Nadeau, Jeff Tagliaferri (Kennedy) and Casey Snow (Crespi). . . . Left-handed pitcher Justin Siegel (Taft) plays for North Carolina State, which plays in the Mideast Regional.

In softball, 12 area players--not including those from Cal State Northridge--are participating in the College World Series. For top-ranked Arizona: Amy Chellevold (Thousand Oaks), Jenny Dalton (Glendale), Krista Gomez (Alemany) and Nancy Evans (Hoover); for UCLA: Nicole Victoria (Buena) and Jenny Mike (Buena); for Fresno State: Kim Maher (Buena), Jenifer Henry (Buena) and Melissa Thatcher (Agoura); for Missouri: Keri Borzello (Taft); for Utah: Deb DiMeglio (Palmdale) and Cyndee Bennett (Glendale).