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By James Hernandez 

Lied Field at Morse Stadium was buzzing with anticipation for #1 Yavapai vs. #19 CSN all day long and former National league MVP Bryce Harper's ceremonial first pitch sent the near capacity crown into a frenzy.

Every pitch was contested from the opening inning to the final out in a matchup that had the feel of a late April win or go home playoff game, not a season opener.

The defending champs sent lefty Avery Weems to the bump and was opposed by local Shadow Ridge high school product Isaiah Blaylock.

After a scoreless first inning, the freshman Blaylock was touched up for four runs in the second and third innings.

The Coyotes would rally for a pair in the third to cut the Roughriders lead to 4-3.

Trailing by one, CSN rallied in the bottom of the fifth to take its first lead of the game.

Yavapai reliever Ender DeJesus surrendered a clean single to left by Jay Martz to tie the game, followed by back to back bases loaded walks to Kaid Urban and Cody Milner.

A Carlos Viera error on a hard-hit ball by Dillon Johnson allowed Martz to come around and extend CSN's lead to 7-4.

Coyote relievers Todd Danzeisen (Win) and Alex Tisminezky (Save) combined for 6.2 innings of scoreless relief, allowing just 1 hit and 3 walks, striking out eleven.

CSN's clutch performance from its pen helped lock down a 7-4 opening day victory and extend its win streak over the defending NJCAA champions to three.

After getting the victory over the defending NJCAA champs, CSN turned its attention towards another challenger from the Grand Canyon State, the Arizona Western College Matadors.

Former UNLV Rebel and Liberty high school standout sophomore Dan Skelly took the ball Saturday afternoon in his 2017 CSN Coyotes debut. Skelly breezed through four frames, allowing just one run, four hits and striking out three. A solid debut had Dan in line for the victory after departing with a 5-1 lead. Like fellow Liberty high school Patriot Skelly Freshman Justin Lutes had a debut to remember. Lutes went 2 for 4 with a double, triple, walk and 4 RBI's.

Unfortunately for CSN the Matadors would rally for seven runs over the final three innings to secure a gritty 8-5 comeback victory.
 
CSN had its second showcase matchup of the weekend Saturday evening versus traditional Grand Canyon State power Central Arizona.

Redshirt freshman Herbie Good and his upper 90's heater was on the bump for the Coyotes and was opposed by Vaqueros ace Peyton Remy.

This matchup was thought to be a pitcher's duel, unfortunately for CSN Good was unable to hold CAC's explosive offense down.

14 Vaqueros marched to the plate in the top of the second inning, stunning the Coyotes with 9 runs.

Pikai Winchester's grand salami highlighted the offensive onslaught and was more than enough for ace Peyton Remy. The future MLB draft pick retired all but two batters he faced over his four innings of work, striking out six. Bradley Gonzalez pitched a perfect top of the 5th inning to preserve the shutout for CAC. The Vaqueros defeated the Coyotes via the run rule 12-0 in five innings.

Following consecutive losses head coach Nick Garritano hoped a shakeup in the batting order would wake up a CSN offense that had not scored a run in its last eight innings of play.

Garritano decided to drop second baseman Dillon Johnson from the leadoff spot to the three hole, move Christian Maggi from the two hole to the leadoff spot and send Blake Wiggins to the cleanup spot.

The moves made coach G look like a genius coach look like a genius as the trio combined to go 6 for 11 with three RBI's and a pair of runs scored.

Future Alabama Crimson Tide commit Sage Diehm took the ball for CSN hoping to provide some quality innings against a talented Gateway CC Geckos team that handed the Coyotes one of its four home losses last season and finishing 2016 as the NJCAA D2 national runner-up.

Diehm struggled to consistently locate his pitches, allowing 3 hits, two runs and one walk over 2.1 innings of work. Thankfully for the Coyotes Ben Cutting came out of the pen throwing with conviction. The former Arbor View Aggie threw 4 no-hit innings, striking out six and allowing his Coyotes to build a 7-2 lead.

In a bit of déjà vu from last season the Geckos were once again in the midst of another furious ninth inning rally. With the game tying run barreling down on home plate, CSN right fielder Christian Maggi fired a seed to catcher Nico Festa in time to cut down Anthony DeFrancesco and preserve a 7-6 win for the Coyotes.

Fans your Coyotes will be back in action at home Thursday night for the first of four games this weekend versus the Cochise College Apaches.

For game times and future opponents please log onto www.csncoyotes.com or follow us on Twitter @CSNCoyotes | Facebook CSNCoyotes.