By James Hernandez

Southern Nevada entered the opening weekend of conference play riding a 14 game winning streak as they welcomed in a familiar foe from Rangely, Colorado the CNCC Spartans.

Game one of the weekend featured freshmen standout Matty Mitchell on the bump for CSN, looking to improve upon his 10.2 scoreless innings streak. Mitchell was solid early on, but hit a rough patch in the top of the third inning.

Back to back round trippers off the bats of Joey O'Brien and Wyatt Featherston staked the Coyotes to an early 4-0 lead, however it evaporated when CNCC plated a total of six runs in the third and fourth innings to claim a 6-5 advantage.

Fortunately for Southern Nevada, runs batted in by Beau Capanna, Joey O'Brien and Roger Riley put the Coyotes in the lead for good.

Matt Gilbertson came out of the pen to fire 3.1 scoreless frames, fanning six and not allowing a single run in his second victory of the season.

CSN defeated CNCC 9-6 to extend its winning streak to 15 games and improve to 19-4 overall in 2018.

Ryan McDonald got the nod to start game two of the weekend and turned in arguably his best performance in a Coyotes uniform. Ryan dominated CNCC hitters through 5.1 innings, allowing just a single run and three hits while striking out a season-high 10 batters.

Wyatt Featherston and Michael Camburn got CSN on the board with runs batted in the bottom of the third followed by a Nick "Chewy" Hernandez bases clearing 3 RBI double, in the fourth to give the Coyotes a 5-0 cushion.

CNCC finally got on the board with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning to trim the deficit to 8-2, but Southern Nevada delivered the knockout blow in the bottom of the sixth.

Featherston deposited his second round-tripper of the weekend to get the inning started and Nick Hernandez slammed the door on the Spartans after his seeing-eye single to left field brought home his career-high fifth and sixth RBI's of the game to extend the Coyotes lead to ten runs.

CSN dropped CNCC 12-2 to take the winning streak to 16 games and improve its overall mark to 20-4.

The "Swiss Army Knife" Joey O'Brien took the ball in game three looking to improve upon a mind-blowing 23:0 strikeout to walk ratio. Joey once again dazzled the MLB scouts in attendance as he punched-out eight batters, over four two-hit innings of work.

Southern Nevada plated twelve runs in its four offensive plate appearances highlighted by round trippers off the bats of Peyton Koopman, Joey O'Brien and Roger Riley. Every CSN starting position player reached base at least once, led by Peyton Koopman (4 RBI) Roger Riley and Justin Lutes (2RBI's apiece).

CSN plated a dozen runs for the second straight game to dispatch the Spartans 12-2 and improve to 21-4 overall while extending its season-best winning streak to 17 games in 2018.

Stud southpaw Nick Rupp got the start in the weekend finale with his focus set on improving his regular season record to 4-0 and extending the team's winning streak to 18 games. Rupp came out pounding the zone against the Spartans, striking out six and allowing just a pair of free passes over his 5.1 innings of work.

Reigning Region 18 Player of The Year Justin Lutes reestablished his presence in the lineup when he launched a no-doubter over the right field wall in the bottom of the first to plate Joey O'Brien and give Southern Nevada the early 2-0 lead. A clutch two-out RBI off the bat of Michael Camburn in the bottom of the fourth plated a pair of runs to extend the Coyotes lead to 4-0. Joey O'Brien deposited his third round-tripper of the weekend to put the final nail in the Spartans coffin.

Former Palo Verde Panther JD Brooks earned his second save of 2018 after firing 3.2 innings of 1-run baseball that included four strikeouts.

CSN outlasted CNCC 5-2 to earn the weekend sweep. The victory improved Southern Nevada's winning streak to 18 games and took the teams overall record to 22-4.

Fans your Coyotes will travel to Price, Utah this weekend to battle the Eagles on March 16^th and 17^th.

For game times and live updates all weekend log onto www.csncoyotes.com or follow us on Twitter @CSN_Baseball and Facebook CSNCoyotes.