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By James Hernandez 

For the second time in three weeks the College of Southern Nevada played host to one of the premier tournaments in junior college baseball, the 2017 Coyote Baseball Classic. CSN opened the tournament with a familiar foe, Cochise College. After a 1-3 record the previous weekend versus the Apaches, the Coyotes were hoping for a better result Thursday night.

Sophomore Todd Danzeisen got the start for the Coyotes and was hoping to build upon his early season success out of the bullpen in his first start of 2017. Todd provided his team with 5.1 innings of work, surrendering just four hits and two earned runs, but left the game trailing 3-0.  Justin Lutes sacrificed a fly to left field plated Christian Maggi to cut the CSN deficit to 3-1 after six innings of play. The deficit remained two for the Coyotes until the bottom of the eighth inning, when left fielder Kaid Urban scorched a ball down the right field line to score Jordan Macias and Jay Martz to knot the game up 3-3. Unfortunately for CSN, the bullpen would struggle to find outs and ultimately coast the Coyotes a victory. Cochise College sent eight men to the plate in the top of the ninth inning, resulting in four runs and a 7-3 lead for the Apaches heading into the bottom of the ninth. CSN was unable to rally in the bottom of the ninth and dropped the game to Cochise College by a final score of 7-3.

Friday night brought us a rematch of opening night between the defending NJCAA champion Yavapai College Roughriders and the host College of Southern Nevada. Despite some early season struggles, the Coyotes looked to extend its winning streak over the Roughriders to four games with a victory Friday night under the lights.

Talented  freshman Herbie Good toed the rubber for the Coyotes and he experienced a very rude introduction to the rivalry. Roughriders leadoff hitter Carlos Viera took the first pitch of the game over the left field wall to stake Yavapai College to an early 1-0 lead. The game remained 1-0 in favor of Yavapai College until the bottom of the third inning. Following a bases loaded wild pitch from YC starter Justin Durkiewicz to tie the game 1-1, CSN clean-up hitter Blake Wiggins deposited a three-run shot over the left field to plate Justin Lutes and Jay Martz. The Roughriders would outscore the Coyotes 5-1 over their next three offensive innings to take a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. A Blake Wiggins 2 RBI double to left in the bottom of the sixth put CSN ahead for the second time of the night 7-6, however the Roughriders would once knot the game up in the top of the eighth on a Jaxson Fagg fielder's choice. Following a stellar three up three down inning from reliever Blake Inouye, the Coyotes would stage an improbable rally in the bottom of the ninth to secure the victory. Following a Jordan Macias infield single to load the bases, former Roughrider turned Coyote Christian Maggi stepped into the batter's box with a chance to bury his former team. With the game-winning run just 90 feet away the former Yavapai outfielder wore a pitch from former teammate Andrew Gross to bring home Jarrett Perns for a stunning 8-7 walk off victory. Reliever Blake Inouye struck out four in two perfect innings of relief to propel his Coyotes to a fourth straight victory in one of junior college baseball's premier rivalries.

For the eleventh consecutive game CSN was opposed by an opponent from the Grand Canyon State, this time the challenge came from Phoenix junior college powerhouse South Mountain Community College. Lefty Ben Cutting was on the bump for the Coyotes, hoping to continue his impressive streak of nine consecutive scoreless innings alive versus the Cougars. SMCC put an end to Cutting's streak quickly, striking for three runs in the top of the first inning and five runs over the first four innings to take a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning. The Coyotes began to rally back in the bottom of the fourth when second baseman Dillon (DJ) Johnson led the inning off with a solo shot to left field, cutting the Cougars lead to 5-2. That was followed by a perfectly executed suicide squeeze from Nico Festa and an RBI triple from right fielder Christian Maggi that cut the CSN deficit to 5-4. Justin Lutes produced a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield, scoring Jay Martz and knotting the game up 5-5 after seven innings of play. Both teams would produce single runs in the top and bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings tied up at six apiece. The Cougars took a 7-6 lead in the top of the tenth inning and a bases loaded rally by the Coyotes fell short in the bottom half of the inning when Christian Maggi was called out on a controversial twin killing to end the game. SMCC defeated CSN 7-6 in ten innings to drop the Coyotes record to 4-7 through eleven games.

The final game of the weekend for CSN featured a challenge from another group of Coyotes, this one all the way from Okanagan College in Kelowna, British Columbia. Former Shadow Ridge high school standout Isaiah Blaylock took the ball looking for the first victory of his collegiate career. Blaylock was dialed in from the word go, allowing just one hit over five dominant frames of shutout baseball. An error by Okanagan College on a Jarrett Perns bunt single in the bottom of the second allowed two unearned runs to touch home for CSN, the Coyotes would never look back. Kaid Urban singled home Perns two batters later and a Jay Martz fielder's choice produced two more RBI's extending CSN's lead to 5-0 heading into the top of the third inning. Jarrett Perns added an RBI sacrifice fly to center in the bottom of the third inning to put the Coyotes up 6-0 and Mother Nature took care of the rest. The skies opened up on the field and a steady downpour led to the game being called with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. CSN's overall 2017 record to 5-7 with a 6-0 rain shortened victory over Okanagan College Saturday night.

Fans your Coyotes will host Okanagan College this weekend for the first of four games beginning Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 6:00 PM.

For a complete listing of game times and upcoming opponents please log onto www.csncoyotes.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter @CSNCoyotes.