By James Hernandez 

Southern Nevada baseball hit the road for Price, Utah last week boasting an 18 game winning streak that had not seen the Coyotes drop a game since February 3^rd, as they rose to number two in the latest NJCAA poll.

Unbeaten wins leader Ryan McDonald (5-0) got the ball in the series opener determined to extend the nation's longest winning streak and keep the Coyotes unbeaten in conference play.

The game started out well for CSN as Justin Lutes and AJ Amelburu produced RBI singles in the top of the first and third innings to stake McDonald to a 2-0 lead. With his team up 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth, Ryan surrendered a game-changing triple to Collin Wilson that plated three Eagles to give USU-E a 4-2 edge.

The Coyote offense was unable to produce a hit over its final three offensive frames, as they were held to its lowest offensive output since being shut out 3-0 by Central Arizona in the season opener.

Eastern edged Southern Nevada 5-2 to end the teams 18 game winning streak, dropping them to 22-5 overall and handing the team its first SWAC loss of the season.

CSN looked to regroup on the fly as they hoped to avoid back to back losses for the first time since a road trip to Phoenix in early February.

Lefty Nick Rupp was on the bump looking to secure his fifth victory of the season and remain unbeaten in the process. Rupp was on point all afternoon, fanning a season-high nine Eagles over 5.2 innings of work, allowing just three runs and four hits.

The Coyotes offense got the wake-up call in game two, striking for four runs in the top of the first thanks to a three-RBI double off the bat of Hunter Heugly. Justin Lutes and Wyatt Featherston extended Southern Nevada's lead to 7-3 in the top of the fourth courtesy of a wild pitch and a RBI groundout to third.

Matt Gilbertson locked down his second save of the season after pitching the final 3.1 innings of the game, allowing just a pair of runs. Gilby and Rupp combined to punch-out 12 Eagles as CSN dropped USU-E 7-5 to knot the series up 1-1 and improve to 5-1 in conference play.

The Coyotes were in search of a little luck on St. Patrick's Day as they ran southpaw Matty Mitchell out to start game three of the weekend. Mitchell hoped to put a few inconsistent outings in the rearview mirror and secure a second consecutive victory for his Coyotes. Mitchell found himself on the short side of a pitcher's duel with Chase Stratton as he trailed 2-0 heading into the top of the fourth inning.

Roger Riley and AJ Amelburu produced RBI's in the inning to knot the game up 2-2, however CSN was never able to grab an advantage in this seven inning affair. Hunter Heugly plated Justin Lutes in the top of the fifth to even the game 3-3, but once again the Eagles had the answer.

Trevor Bende was the hero for Eastern in the bottom of the seventh when his RBI single off Joey O'Brien scored Jesse Rowley to give USU-E its second victory of the weekend.

The Eagles outlasted the Coyotes 4-3 in game three, dropping CSN to 5-2 in SWAC play and 23-6 overall.

With the team staring its first losing series of the season in the face, Coach Garritano turned to an unbeaten freshmen to earn the series split.

Former Silverado Skyhawk standout Buddy Pindel took the mound determined to shut the door on a feisty Eagles offense. Pindel was sharp as a tack, allowing just one run on five hits over seven stellar frames. Buddy lowered an already miniscule earned run average to 0.83 on his way to a season best ten strikeouts.

Michael Camburn and Cole Fossat came through with runs batted in for their respective teams in the first inning and that was where we stood until the "Swiss Army Knife" changed the game with one swing of the bat in the top of the second. Joey O'Brien continued his march towards SWAC player of the year when he deposited a three-run bomb over the left field wall to give Southern Nevada a 4-1 cushion. Peyton Koopman singled home the Coyotes fifth run of the game in the top of the third and that was all the scoring CSN would need.

Jordan Wyke fanned five over his two innings of work to give him and Pindel a mind-blowing 15 strikeouts over their nine frames of one-run baseball.

Southern Nevada earned the series split with Utah State Eastern after earning a 5-1 win in the series finale. With the victory CSN improved to 6-2 in conference and 24-6 overall.

Fans plan to "Pack the Den" March 23^rd and 24^th as your Coyotes host the Bruins in a critical SWAC battle.

For game times and ticketing information log onto www.csncoyotes.com or follow us on Twitter @CSN_Baseball and Facebook CSNCoyotes.