College of Southern Nevada Coyotes

Coyotes take down WNC, complete SWAC sweep

2/27/2013 3:20:00 PM

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The College of Southern Nevada baseball team has had many memorable bouts with in-state rival Western Nevada College over the years.  Last Saturday, the Coyotes added another one to that list.

Morgan Stotts singled home Evan Van Hoosier in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift CSN to a 4-3 triumph over the 8th-ranked Wildcats at Burkholder Park, completing a weekend sweep over each of the Coyotes' conference opponents.

"Winning that ballgame in dramatic fashion was a great feeling," CSN head coach Nick Garritano said.  "After giving up the lead in the seventh, we knew we had to keep fighting until the last out was recorded."

The extra-inning heroics wouldn't have been possible without two key plays in the seventh inning.  In the top half of the inning, a key defensive play by third baseman Chad Whiteaker came when a hard-hit ball down the third base line by Matt Becker allowed Whiteaker time to quickly react and tag out runner Alex Fife at third, before overthrowing first base in an attempt to get Becker out.  Becker ended up at third on the play.

"Chad made a terrific, clutch reaction play in that situation," Garritano said.  "(If) that ball gets through, they go ahead 4-2 and have a runner on second base with one out.  (It was a) big time play."

The other key play was a dramatic, two-out single on a liner to center field by Cody Clark that scored Thomas Pannone from second.  Pannone had just moved up to second base on a wild pitch just one pitch before Clark's hit.

CSN (16-5, 4-0 Scenic West Athletic Conference) had planned to start right-hander Kayden Porter  but at the last minute opted to go with freshman Tyler Condie   Condie did well on the mound for preparing on a short notice, allowing no runs on two hits in four innings of work.

"Condie did a wonderful job in a spot start," Garritano said.  "He didn't have all of his pitches working, but made enough good pitches to keep us in the game and give us a chance to win."

Western Nevada (13-7, 1-3) scored a run off of Alex Watson in the sixth, and scored a pair of unearned runs off of Chevas Numata in the seventh before Cory Welch took over on the bump.

Welch had excellent command and a devastating fast ball that fooled the Wildcats' lineup.  Welch (1-1) earned the victory in relief after tossing four innings of one-hit baseball, striking out two and walking none.

Van Hoosier finished 2-for-5 with two runs scored and a stolen base to lead the Coyotes' offense.

For only the second time in the history between both teams, CSN and WNC played against one another at a neutral site.  The last time they played at a neutral site was their previous meeting -- an elimination game in Salt Lake City during the 2012 Region XVIII tournament, which the Coyotes dropped 4-2 in 10 innings.

CSN defeated No. 17 Salt Lake Community College 9-2 on Thursday, then followed that up on Friday with a 7-1 win over College of Southern Idaho and a 9-0 shutout over Colorado Northwestern Community College.