By James Hernandez 

From 4-7 to Grand Junction, the epic journey of the 2017 College of Southern Nevada baseball team was one for the ages. After a promising 2016 season ended in disappointment at the hands of Western Nevada College, Nick Garritano and his staff immediately began the process of reloading for another postseason run. Five Coyotes from the 2016 team were taken in last year's MLB draft (Mikey York, Brody Westmoreland, Gabe Gonzalez, Tyler Hallead and Jordan Hand) and fifteen total departures meant that we would see plenty of fresh faces this year. The entire starting rotation needed to be remade on the fly, but luckily for Southern Nevada pitching coach Brian Gidge was up to the challenge.

Sophomore southpaws Ben Cutting and Todd Danzeisen earned starting rotation spots after some impressive work during fall ball. Talented freshmen righties Isaiah Blaylock (Shadow Ridge HS) and Herbie Good (Murray State) rounded out a starting rotation that ranked first in the SWAC in team ERA (4.09), wins (37), saves (5) K's (370) and B/AVG (2.23).

Offensively the Coyotes would be hard pressed to replace the dynamic power bats of last season; however veteran hitting coach Bryan Maloney devised a different approach in 2017 that yielded similar results. The Coyotes offense once again set the pace in the Scenic West Athletic Conference in AVG (.297) Runs (322) Hits (434) RBI (275) and SLG% (.400) all while swinging wood bats. Local Liberty High School product Justin Lutes (.376 AVG, 55 Runs, 68 Hits, 6 HR, 46 RBI, and 53 BB) had arguably the best freshman season at CSN since a guy named Harper set the junior college baseball world on fire back in 2010. Lutes broke Quinton Mack's all-time Coyotes single-season walk record with 53 free passes on his way to earning consensus 2017 SWAC player of the year honors. 

The Coyote Border has become an annual tradition that signifies the beginning of another junior college baseball season, and this year's field was as loaded as we have seen in quite some time. Perennial Arizona juco baseball powers Yavapai College, Central Arizona College, South Mountain Community College and Arizona Western College were just a few of the heavy hitters that made their way to Southern Nevada to compete in this annual showcase of collegiate baseball talent.

After defeating the defending NJCAA champions (Yavapai College) on opening night, CSN dropped seven of its next ten games. Southern Nevada would regroup courtesy of a nine game winning streak to conclude non-conference play in which the team outscored its opponents 93-28. The momentum carried over into conference play as the Coyotes dominated with a 24-7 mark that led the team to its third consecutive Scenic West Athletic Conference crown. Clinching the SWAC for a third straight year meant that Lied Field at Morse Stadium aka "The Den" would play host to the Region XVIII tournament once again.

Postseason play began with the Coyotes taking a haymaker on the chin from rival CNCC. This stunning 17-3 loss to open up tournament play put CSN on the brink of elimination, and meant that the team would need to win four games in less than 48 hours to emerge as Region 18 champions. The Coyotes dug deep to outscore its next four opponents 34-10, highlighted by a clutch fourteen strikeout game by sophomore Blake Inouye that earned the team its second trip to the NJCAA Western District Championships in the past three seasons.

Yuma, Arizona was the sight for the NJCAA WDC tournament on the campus of Arizona Western College. The Matadors earned the right to host after upsetting Cochise College and Central Arizona in the ACCAC playoffs to capture a Region I tournament title. Entering the tournament CSN was a combined 0-2 versus the Vaqueros and Matadors after both teams got the best of the Coyotes back in late January. Southern Nevada opened up the tournament Thursday afternoon versus Central Arizona. The Vaqueros came out swinging, lighting the Coyotes up for 15 runs and 16 hits in a lopsided 15-5 defeat. The loss meant that for the second consecutive weekend the College of Southern Nevada would need four victories in 48 hours to qualify for the programs third ever trip to the Junior College World Series.

For the second consecutive weekend the "Cardiac Coyotes" pulled themselves off the mat, rallying to claim its first WDC title since 2010. CSN survived a 1-0 thriller over TSJC on Friday morning and eliminated host AWC 6-4 to earn a berth into championship Saturday later that afternoon. A confident Coyotes team ambushed the Vaqueros in game one, giving Central Arizona a taste of its own medicine with a 15-5 beat-down that setup a winner-take-all finale. Southern Nevada's bats remained hot as the outlasted CAC 8-5 to complete the most epic two week run in CSN baseball history. The victory secured the programs third ever trip to Grand Junction, Colorado for the NJCAA World Series.

"Burn the Boats" became the rally cry for this 2017 group of Coyotes as they embarked on the 60^th installment of the NJCAA World Series. The term is said to have originated around 1519 when Captain Hernan Cortes insisted that his troops set fire to their own boats in order to ensure that no matter how grave or dire the situation became his men would continue to press forward, realizing that they had all reached a "point of no return" and retreating was not an option.

Unfortunately for Southern Nevada their stay in Grand Junction was brief. CSN dropped its first tournament game 11-4 to the Wabash Valley College Warriors 11-4 and were eliminated the following day 11-3 at the hands of the Wallace-Dothan Governors.

Despite the departure of 17 sophomores, the cupboard is hardly bare. SWAC POY Justin Lutes returns along with the pride of the 808 Jordan Macias to give the Coyotes the best corner infielders in the SWAC. Depending on what happens in the MLB draft there is a good chance we will see starting pitchers Isaiah Blaylock and Herbie Good back in the mix in 2018, along with versatile diaper dandy Alex Tisminezky. Coach Garritano and his staff already have verbal commitments some of the finest talent in the Silver State. That list includes, but is not limited to two-time state champion catcher Roger Riley from Basic HS, one of the best pure hitters in the country, Bishop Gorman's Nick "Chewy" Hernandez and future southpaw ace from Spring Valley HS Nick Rupp. Combine those returning sophomores with one of the most anticipated freshman classes in CSN baseball history and it's easy to see why 2018 has the potential to be Nick Garritano's finest collection of talent in his seven seasons as Coyotes skipper.

A great coach once said, "Don't be sad it's over, be happy it happened." That quote not only accurately describes this 2017 CSN baseball season, but it truly speaks to what this Southern Nevada baseball program is transforming into. With three straight seasons of 40 or more victories and the first trip to Grand Junction of the "Garritano era" the College of Southern Nevada has finally moved out of the shadow of its greatest individual talent Bryce Harper, and established itself a perennial top 20 NJCAA baseball program that has the talent to compete for national supremacy each and every season.