By James Hernandez

Saturday's night cap of the 2018 Border Battle featured a Western District tournament semi-final rematch between the College of Southern Nevada and the Arizona Western College Matadors.

Both teams competed like it was a late April playoff game instead of the third game of the season, scrapping and clawing for every inch on the diamond.

With the Mat's leading 3-2 entering the bottom of the seventh a pair of sophomores took it upon themselves to make sure a loss was not in the cards for the Coyotes. The dynamic duo of Justin Lutes and Jordan Macias combined for 5 hits, and 4 RBI's as Southern Nevada plated eight runs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings.

Matt Wong, Nick "Chewy" Hernandez, Jay DeSoto, Trevor Jackson and AJ Amelburu chipped in with 1 RBI apiece as the Coyotes plated ten runs on ten hits.

Former Green Valley Gator Matt Gilbertson earned the first victory of his collegiate career after firing 4.1 shutout innings. Alex Tisminezky was an absolute beast! Tossing 2 scoreless frames and striking out four to earn the save.

The victory improved CSN's season record to 2-1.

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