By Devin Virissimo    

An adrenalized crowd showed up to see the #19 ranked Coyotes take on the defending NJCAA National Champions and #1 ranked Roughriders in their first game of the season. This game was immediately circled the moment it was scheduled to be a crowd pleaser and it did not disappoint.

Plenty of CSN alumni showed up as well, including former National League MVP Bryce Harper who delivered the honorary first pitch. With him cheering on the Coyotes, the fans were off to an exciting night of baseball.

Freshman Isaiah Blaylock was tasked with taking on the defending National Champs and showed he is close to competing with the best. Blaylock went 2.1 while striking out 2 and giving up the only 4 runs Yavapai would record all night.

He was replaced by sophomore Todd Danzeisen who shut down the Roughriders in the following 3.2 innings.

The Coyotes would record their first run off an RBI triple from sophomore Jay Martz in the 2^nd.

They would then follow that up with 2 more RBIs in the 3^rd from a Jason Wallace double. 

The real damage would be done when Yavapai left an ailing relief pitcher on the hill too long as he walked 5 out of 7 batters in the 5^th. The Coyotes would jump on the opportunity and plate 4 more runs in that inning, including another RBI single from Martz.

From then on, Danzeisen would record 5 strikeouts, including 3 in a row to shut out the 6^th.

After that, it was all about freshman Alex Tisminezky who would continue on the strike-out streak with 3 in a row in the 7^th, 1 more in the 8^th and 2 more in the 9^th.

Despite 4 errors from the Coyotes fielders, the pitching staff completely shut down the Roughriders by not allowing a hit in the final 4 innings.

The final score favored CSN 7-4 and gave a big boost of momentum to the Coyotes who will have a double-header tomorrow against Arizona Western at 3:30 p.m. and then Central Arizona at 7:00 p.m. at Morse Field on the Henderson Campus.

For more info, check out csncoyotes.com.