Lions Open WCC Title Defense by Taking Series From Nevada

Call it a day of living dangerously: The University of Nevada started two left-handers in Saturday’s doubleheader at Loyola Marymount, where right-handed batters try to take advantage of the short left-field fence.

The Wolfpack got away with the tactic in the opener. Helped by five Loyola errors that led to eight unearned runs, Nevada won, 10-5. Southpaw Junior Pro (1-0) earned the victory. Chad Dembisky (1-2) took the loss.

In the second game, Nevada curveballer Jeff Talliaferro (0-1) failed to make it through the third inning and Loyola won, 19-1.

Left-hander Chris Spears threw six shutout innings to improve to 2-1. Spears, who was hit in a toe by a second-inning line drive, shook off the injury to strand three Nevada runners in the second. In the third, he stranded a runner at third.

The victory gave the Lions a 2-1 record in defense of their West Coast Conference title. They are 5-5 overall. With an 11-2 victory in the series opener Friday, the Lions scored 33 runs against Nevada (1-3).

Nevada scored six runs in the first two innings of Saturday’s opener, and secured the victory with four runs in the seventh.

The Lions grabbed a 4-0 lead in the first inning of the second game, highlighted by Gerrado Perez’s two-run double. They scored eight runs in the third that featured an inside-the-park home run by Henley Regisford and a three-run homer by Joe Ciccarella following two hit batters.

Nevada scored an unearned run in the eighth.

For the doubleheader, shortstop Chris Gomez had four hits, a home run and five runs batted in, designated hitter Joe Testa went six for seven with a homer and Ciccarella knocked in four runs and pitched a scoreless ninth. Gomez was seven for 13 with six RBIs in the series.

The Lions play host to Cal State Fullerton in a nonconference game at 2 p.m. Tuesday.