The Nevada Wolf Pack baseball team needs to pile up the victories this month.
The Wolf Pack is one week into a month-long stretch of 17 winnable games from Feb. 22 to March 22. The Pack has won three of the first five games during that stretch, winning three-of-four against Northern Illinois last weekend at Peccole Park and losing at Sacramento State on Tuesday.
The Pack, now 5-4, returns home on Saturday (doubleheader at 11 a.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m. singe game) against Holy Cross. The Crusaders of the Patriot League are 1-3 this year after finishing 33-22 last year.
The Pack will then go on the road for five games (at Pacific on March 5, at Utah Valley March 7-9 and at UC Davis on March 12) before returning home March 15-17 to face Air Force in the first Mountain West 3-game series of the year.
Air Force is 2-6 this year and was picked by the Mountain West's six coaches to finish last in the conference.
HERNANDEZ BACK: First baseman Hugo Hernandez has made a successful return to the Wolf Pack lineup.
Hernandez, a senior, played just five games in 2012 -- going 3-for-9 -- before missing the rest of the season with an injury.
The 6-foot, 200-pounder is 5-for-12 this season in five games. The last two seasons combined he is hitting .381 (8-for-21) with just two strikeouts.
Hernandez leads the Wolf Pack in average (.417), slugging percentage (.583) and on base percentage (.500) this year.
As a junior in 2011, Hernandez hit .248 in 46 games with 17 RBI in his first season at Nevada.
PRIHAR SOLID: Junior right-hander Sean Prihar is stabilizing a shaky Wolf Pack bullpen right now.
The 6-foot-2 junior has not allowed a run over four games and 5.1 innings this season. Prihar, who has allowed seven hits, also has not walked a hitter while striking out two.
The Damonte Ranch High graduate, is in his third season with the Wolf Pack. He has appeared in 34 games in his career with a 3.44 ERA over 36.2 innings.
ROWE DOING LITTLE THINGS: On the surface, it would appear that Jamison Rowe is struggling as the Pack's full-time lead-off hitter. The speedy 5-foot-10 center fielder, after all, is hitting just .229 (8-for-35) with an on base percentage of just .282.
Rowe, though, has contributed in other ways. He has scored a team-high six runs, has walked three times, leads the team with four doubles, has a triple, has a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly and has stolen the only base he has attempted to steal.
He has also played flawless center field, handling 25 chances without an error. He also has not made an error in his Wolf Pack career over 126 games and 188 chances.
Rowe hit just .203 over his first two seasons at Nevada in 2010 and 2011 (just 79-at-bats combined) and emerged as a viable starter in center field last year by hitting .278 over 53 games and 126 at-bats as a junior in 2012.
KAPLAN STEPS RIGHT IN: Scott Kaplan has made a smooth transition to Division I baseball.
The 5-foot-10 Kaplan, who played the last two seasons at Irvine Valley College, has started all nine games at second base, replacing departed senior Joe Kohan, who started 135 games at second from 2009-12.
Kaplan has been solid this year, hitting .300 with a double, triple and three RBI. He has walked four times and has struck out just once. He also has yet to make an error in 34 chances.
