Scouting the Nevada Wolf Pack Ahead of Ole Miss Baseball’s Opening Series

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss baseball fans are just a matter of hours away from the first game of the season at Swayze Field, where the Rebels will face the Nevada Wolf Pack today at 4:00 p.m. CT.

This will be the second time in program history the Wolf Pack will face an SEC team. The first two games came in 2000, when Nevada played Alabama twice and losing both, before facing and losing to the Crimson Tide again in 2008.

As the Rebels look to secure a series win to open the season, they’ll have to do so against an experienced, preseason conference favorite in Nevada, who will be entering the 2026 campaign under new head coach Jordan Getzelman.

After finishing the 2025 season with a 34-23 record and a regular-season conference championship, head coach Jake McKinley made the move to the MLB, leaving Nevada to promote Getzelman, who had been the hitting coach for the past two years.

Even with the coaching change, the preseason coaches’ poll still picked the Wolf Pack to win the Mountain West. If it were able to do so, it would secure back-to-back conference titles for the first time in program history, and it certainly has the talent to do so.

Nevada’s returning experience includes seven position starters, five of whom were listed on a 13-player All-Mountain West list, as well as four of its top five leaders in batting average and three of its top five leaders in at-bats.

Third baseman Sean Yamaguchi, included among the five, also earned Mountain West Freshman of the Year and Freshman All-American honors. Yamaguchi started 51 games for the Wolf Pack last season and even tied a conference record while doing so by hitting 13 home runs last season. He also earned 50 RBIs, 13 doubles, 18 walks and 51 runs while batting .324.

At first base, Nevada is also returning Billy Ham, who led the team in BA with a .340 last season. He also earned All-Mountain West Second Team honors and hit 46 RBIs, 42 runs, 20 walks, 21 doubles and seven home runs.

To fill the bases out, the Wolf Pack will have back shortstop and second baseman Junhyuk Kwon, as well as pitcher and first baseman Jayce Dobie, who had the second-best BA last season and will be another returning senior for Nevada. After spending his freshman and sophomore seasons with two different community colleges, he made the jump up to Nevada. In his first season in Reno, he earned All-Mountain West First Team honors while hitting a .339 BA and seven homers. He also started four games as a pitcher, finishing with a 2-2 record and a 6.07 ERA after allowing seven home runs.

Kwon got a similar start, spending his first two years at a community college before joining the Wolf Pack. Once he arrived, he started 40 games and was batting .346 before suffering a seasoning ending in injury and missing the last eight games.

At catcher, the Wolf Pack returns another All-Mountain West First Team selection and senior in Jake Harvey, who was also up for the Buster Posey Award last season, which goes to the catcher of the year.

Harvey led Nevada in walks and on-base percentage in 2025, with 40 and 0.440, respectively. While batting .312, he recorded 40 runs and 19 RBIs, giving the Wolf Pack veteran experience on and behind the plate.

In the outfield, there are junior Jacob Doyle and senior Jackson Waller, both of whom saw more than 50 starts for the team last season, with Waller being the only player on the team to start all 57 games for the Wolf Pack. Waller and Doyle were No. 6 and No. 8 in BA last season. Waller was also second on the team in total hits with 68.

On the mound, Nevada will be returning redshirt junior Alessando Castro, who earned All-Mountain West First Team honors as a sophomore, and redshirt senior Dominic Desch, who will start for the Wolf Pack on Friday.

Castro started 15 games, securing a 5-3 record with a 5.33 ERA and 43 strikeouts over 72.2 innings. Desch appeared in 18 games in relief, acquiring the most wins on the team with a 6-1 record, a 4.15 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 39 innings.

Nevada also secured two other pitchers through the transfer portal, with senior Aiden Brainard and junior Jordan Giacomini.

With Regis in 2025, Brainard went 5-1 in eight starts with a 6.67 ERA, while allowing a .236 opponent BA. He also tallied 10 of his 60 strikeouts on the season in one game against Cal State Los Angeles. Giacomini, who transferred from Santa Rose JC over the offseason, acquired a 12-0 record after 14 appearances and two starts. He also recorded 86 strikeouts in 65.2 innings.

What to expect

Ole Miss and its fans need to expect a veteran Nevada team looking to open the season with a bang. This is a team with tons of experience, and those without experience make up for it in talent. So, Ole Miss should not expect an easy opener.

With many all-conference selections, Nevada can make plays all over the field and hit very well. Ole Miss will need pitcher Hunter Elliot to get hot early to shut down the Wolf Pack’s batters quickly to give the Rebels early momentum.

It’s a very winnable game and a great test for Ole Miss to open the season; it will just need to ensure that it doesn’t get sloppy or let little mistakes rule the game and allow Nevada to keep the game closer than it should be.