By James Hernandez 

The College of Southern Nevada opened the 2017 Region 18 tournament versus Colorado Northwestern, after the Spartans escaped the Region 18 play-in game 8-7 in a thriller over the USU-Eastern Eagles.

Freshman Isaiah Blaylock (1-0, 13 IP, 2 ER, 12 K's vs CNCC) was an easy choice to start game one after dominating the Spartans in two regular season starts. CNCC countered with freshman Alec Myers (1-0, 3 IP, 0 ER, 2 K's vs CSN), the only Spartan arm with a win versus the Coyotes this season. Both starters were sharp early, however it was Myers who would get the best of the Coyotes for a second time this season.

CNCC built a 2-0 lead with single runs in the third and fourth innings, but it was a 2- run blast off the bat of Brier Bryan that may have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Bryan sent a 1-2 pitch from Blaylock over the left field wall to extend its advantage to 4-0.

Trailing 6-0 in the bottom of the seventh Nicco Festa and Jordan Macias attempted to breathe some life into the CSN offense with one RBI apiece, to cut the deficit to 6-2.

Unfortunately, the Spartans responded by outscoring the Coyotes 11-1 over the final two innings of the game, with a Justin Lutes solo shot counting for the teams only run.

CNCC defeated CSN 17-3, dropping the Coyotes to the losers bracket of the tournament.


With the team one loss away from summer vacation, a lineup change from a sleepless Nick Garritano after Thursday's lopsided loss ignited an offensive explosion. Jordan Macias moved from the nine hole to the leadoff spot and the Coyotes offense responded by tying a season high in runs scored with 15.

Ben Cutting was on the bump in search of his victory versus the Golden Eagles despite tossing 10.2 innings, and allowing just one earned run with eight strikeouts in a pair of regular season starts.

Eight of the nine CSN position players had at least one as the team put up a crooked number in each of the teams six innings with the bats. Two-run bombs off the bats of Blake Wiggins and Jordan Macias each plated a pair of runs with two-run bombs in the fourth and fifth innings. Jarrett Perns got in the long ball act as well, launching an opposite field solo shot and was joined by Jason Wallace and Dillon Johnson with one RBI apiece. After building a 11-2 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth, catcher Nicco Festa stepped into the batter's box with the bases loaded and the team one score away from a run-rule victory. Festa seized the moment, crushing a no-doubter over the left field wall to walk-off the Golden Eagles in grand fashion.

CSN ended CSI's season with a 15-2 drubbing, advancing to its second win or go home game of the day.


Friday night lights Region 18 edition featured a "do or die" rematch between CNCC and CSN.

Co-wins leader Todd Danzeisen (8-1) got the ball with the season on the line. The southpaw had to feel confident coming into the start, surrendering just 2 runs and striking out 7 over 11.2 innings of work versus the Spartans.

A clutch two-out triple off the bat of Sergio Reyes in the 1st got CNCC on the board and came home to score after Danzeisen uncorked a wild pitch to Zach Peterson.  Following a two-run homer from Ben Riding a visibly frustrated Todd Danzeisen was tossed out of the game following a verbal exchange with the home plate umpire, after just 1.1 innings of work.

That stunning turn of events set the stage for one of the greatest pitching performances in the history of College of Southern Nevada Baseball.

Sophomore Blake Inouye proceeded to shut down a Spartan offense that had been on fire, scoring a tournament high 30 runs in three games. Inouye dealt seven shutout frames, allowing four hits and striking out a career high fourteen batters.

Christian Maggi and Jordan Macias were right in the thick of everything for the CSN offense, as the dynamic duo combined for 4 hits and 4 runs batted in. With the game knotted up 4-4 in the seventh, two of the Coyotes heaviest hitters decided to cement their place in Coyote lore. Justin Lutes led off the inning by annihilating a 3-1 offering from 2017 SWAC reliever of the year Easton Woods that gave the Coyotes its first lead of the game 5-4. Two batters later the pride of Little Rock, Arkansas Blake Wiggins deposited a 3-2 mistake from Woods deep into the Henderson night and extending CSN's lead to 6-4.

With one out in the top of the ninth, freshman Alex Tisminezky was called upon to get the biggest two outs of his Coyote career. The former Bishop Gorman Gael passed the test with flying colors, earning his 3rd save of the year and securing Blake Inouye's sixth win of 2017.

CSN advanced to championship Saturday after outlasting the Spartans 6-4 in the night cap of day two.


Championship Saturday began with CSN facing its third consecutive "must win" game versus the last unbeaten team in the Region 18 tournament, SLCC. The Bruins came into Saturday afternoon needing to be defeated in consecutive games in order to lose the tournament.

Herbie Good got the nod for the Coyotes, and the freshman responded with arguably his best performance of the year.

Good dazzled with a nice mix of off-speed pitches for strikes and some next level cheddar. Herbie dealt six innings of two-run baseball striking out four Bruins and not allowing a run until the bottom of the fifth inning. Christian Maggi got the Coyotes on the board first with a RBI single through the right side that chased home Jordan Macias.  The game remained 1-0 until catcher Nico Festa clutched up with two-out knock to right field that extended CSN's lead to 2-0. Mason Abrath buried a wild pitch in the dirt one hitter later that allowed Dillon Johnson to score from third and extend the lead to 3-0.

The Bruins clawed back with a pair of runs in the fifth inning to trim the deficit to 3-2, and were threatening to tie things up after back to back singles to lead off the bottom of the seventh.

Alex Tisminezky relieved Good and showed everyone why he has ice water in his veins. "Tizzy" induced a 1-5-3 off the bat of Kody Hall for the first two outs of the inning and struck out Nick Seginowich looking with the tying run for SLCC standing 90 feet away.

Ben Cutting entered to a hero's ovation in the eighth inning and fired two no-hit innings to secure the 3-2 victory, adding a save to his tournament resume.

The win forced a winner take all championship game later that afternoon.

Former UNLV Rebel Dan Skelly was assigned the task of pitching CSN to a Region 18 tournament title and a berth in the Western District Championships for the second time in the last three seasons.

Skelly allowed the first run of the game after former Shadow Ridge graduate Quinn Ayers singled home Nic Roberts in the 2nd, but settled in to put up four consecutive scoreless innings. CSN loaded the bases on the bottom of the second for leadoff man Jordan Macias. Macias and Maggi worked back to back walks on eight consecutive balls from Hammon to grab a lead that never relinquished. With the sacks still jacked Justin Lutes launched a laser to the left centerfield gap that cleared the bases and extended the Coyotes lead to 5-1.

Mitch Berryhill got the Bruins a run closer with a RBI groundout that made the score 6-2, but CSN delivered SLCC a knockout punch following the seventh inning stretch.

With runners on second and third Dillon Johnson roped a triple to dead centerfield to make it 7-2. Johnson came home on a wild pitch one hitter later and just like that it was 8-2. Jay Martz and All-Region 18 performer Jordan Macias added RBI singles later in the inning and the blowout was officially on.

Alex Tisminezky extended his postseason scoreless inning streak to 3.2 after a scoreless eighth and ninth. "Tizzy" got Easton Tallon looking for the final out of the game and the celebration was on!

CSN defeated SLCC 10-2 to claim the 2017 Region 18 tournament title. The victory was the Coyotes fourth in less than 30 hours as the team completed tournament run for the ages.

Fans your Coyotes will travel to Yuma, Arizona to battle the Central Arizona College Vaqueros Thursday May 18 in the 2017 NJCAA Western District Tournament.

Stay tuned for more tournament information at www.csncoyotes.com or follow us on Facebook CSNCoyotes and Twitter @CSNCoyotes.