The Nevada Wolf Pack baseball team now has to start a new winning streak.
The Wolf Pack saw its four-game winnjng streak go up in flames Thursday afternoon to the Utah Valley Wolverines, 17-6, in Orem, Utah.
The Wolverines established new highs for a Pack opponent this year in runs and hits (20). The last time the Pack gave up that many runs and hits was in an 18-5 loss to Louisiana Tech (the Bulldogs had 20 hits) in the final game of the 2012 season in the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
The Pack fell to 9-5 with the loss and the Wolverines, which upset No. 10 Arizona last week, improved to 6-7.
Tom Jameson suffered the loss for the Pack. The senior struggled from the start, allowing seven runs (five earned) and seven hits in just three innings to fall to 0-3 on the year. The 6-foot-7 right-hander was 7-2 last season.
The Wolf Pack even gave Jameson a huge 6-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Kewby Meyer, who had four hits, drove in the first run with a double. Brett Jones and Shaun Mize each walked with the bases loaded to force in a run. Jamison Rowe drove in two runs with a single.
The Pack seemed well on its way to its fifth consecutive victory and 10th win of the year.
Jameson, though, got the first two outs in the bottom of the first inning and then the roof caved in. The Wolverines proceeded to get four hits and score three runs before the inning was over to cut the Pack lead in half at 6-3.
Utah Valley then scored a run in the second and three more in the third to take a 7-6 lead. An error by Pack second baseman Scott Kaplan opened the door in the third. Willie Pratt and Court Zollinger also had run-scoring hits in the inning off Jameson.
The Wolverines then started to pile it on, scoring four more in the fifth, one in the sixth and five in the seventh. Stone Ramsey had a bases-loaded triple in the fifth off Pack reliever Mark Reece.
Kaplan, who had not made an error in the Pack's first 13 games (50 chances), later made his second error of the game.
The Wolf Pack offense did not score and had just five hits over the final eight innings.
Jameson has now faced Utah Valley in each of the past three seasons and has not pitched particularly well in any of his appearances, though he does have a victory. In three starts against the Wolverines, Jameson is 1-2 and has allowed 20 hits, 11 earned runs and six walks in 12 innings and has an earned run average of 8.25.
Five Pack pitchers -- Jameson, Reece, Kody Gorden, Jeff Hardy and Ryan Baker -- combined to throw 208 pitches, walk nine and give up 20 hits and 12 earned runs in just eight innings.
The Wolf Pack is now 16-5 against the Wolverines since the 2006 season. The Pack won nine of the first 10 meetings from 2006-08.
The Wolf Pack and Wolverines will meet again on Friday at 3 p.m. and conclude the three-game series on Saturday at 11 a.m.
