By James Hernandez 

Fresh off the program's third trip to the Junior College World Series, the 2018 Coyotes entered the season with the hype and expectations generally reserved for the most elite programs in junior college baseball.

Southern Nevada began the season on January 26^th versus perennial national contenders, Central Arizona College, Arizona Western College and Yavapai College in the annual Coyote Border Battle. Following a 4-4 start to the season, the Coyotes ripped off 18 straight victories and found itself ranked as high as number two in multiple national polls in early March. Unfortunately the injury bug hit CSN hard, claiming 2017 wins leader Isaiah Blaylock and starting centerfielder Matt Wong for the season. Injuries also shelved key components Jordan Macias, Justin Lutes, Ryan McDonald and Alex Tisminezky for various durations throughout the regular season, causing the team to finish its regular season 13-15 over its final 28 games. Despite the rough stretch, Coach Garritano was able to win at least 30 games for the sixth straight season, including milestone victory #300 as skipper of the Coyotes and #600 overall in his storied baseball career.

CSN found itself in unfamiliar territory, missing out on a Scenic West Athletic Conference regular season title for the first time since 2014, and failing to host the Region 18 tournament for the first time in three years as well. Southern Nevada headed to Twin Falls, Idaho as the #3 seed in the Region 18 tournament and was only able to produce five runs in three games, finishing 1-2 in the tournament and bowing out of the postseason after three games.

Even after a disappointing year by Coyote baseball standards, the national recognition and accolades continued to find their way to the Southern Nevada roster. Freshman southpaw Nick Rupp (6-3, 3.36 ERA, 61.2 IP, 83 strikeouts) earned first team All-Region 18 honors after finishing second in the SWAC in punch-outs, and was joined by the "Swiss Army Knife" Joey O'Brien (.330 AVG, 54 runs, 60 hits, 52 RBI, 9 HR)  as an outfielder. O'Brien joined the All-Region 18 second team as a pitcher after posting a 6-4 overall, 2.61 ERA over 51.2 IP that included 69 strikeouts in what is regarded as arguably the greatest overall seasons in SWAC baseball history. Talented true freshmen Matt Gilbertson (5-2 overall, 1.76 ERA, 2 Saves, 56.1 IP, 64 strikeouts) and Roger Riley (.289 AVG, 24 hits, 19 RBI, 1 HR) joined Joey on the All-Region 18 second team along with sophomore Jordan Macias (.295 AVG, 35 runs, 46 hits, 13 RBI, 1 HR) who earned the honor despite missing significant playing time with an injury. Slick-fielding middle infielders Beau Capanna (.277 AVG, 39 runs, 44 hits, 10 RBI) and AJ Amelburu (.229 AVG, 29 runs, 38 hits, 23 RBI, 1 HR) were All-Region 18 honorable mentions along with another talented first year player, Nick "Chewy" Hernandez (.326 AVG, 11 runs, 31 hits, 33 RBI). Amelburu wasn't done collecting awards as the former Green Valley Gator earned the prestigious SWAC defensive player of the year award. AJ beat out a talented crop of ball players to claim the award after starting all 56 games of his freshman season, posting a .963 fielding percentage and committing just 8 errors in 214 chances.

As usual Coach Garritano's guys were not just standouts on the field, but in the classroom as well. The baseball team finished the year with a cumulative team GPA of 3.3. Seven of the twelve departing sophomores have signed letters of intent to continue their college baseball careers with Ryan McDonald (UNLV commit) Justin Lutes (Pepperdine commit) Alex Tisminezky (Santa Clara commit) Joey O'Brien (Hawaii commit) Tyce O'Neil (Regis University) Peyton Koopman (University of Texas Permian Basin) Wyatt Featherston (Washburn University)  all division one bound, while the remaining five are still weighing their options. At least two Coyotes has a great opportunity to hear his name called when the 2018 MLB draft rolls around this June, giving the program a player drafted for the sixth consecutive season.

Although the season did not end with a trip to Grand Junction, it was still quite a year for the program. With another stellar recruiting class coming in 2019 that includes some of the premier HS talent in the Silver State (Joey Walls, Jimmy Gamboa, Chaison Miklich, Cole Schaefer, Christian Rivero and Dax Fellows) along with returning sophomore's AJ Amelburu, Matt Wong, Hunter Heugly, Jay DeSoto, Roger Riley and Nick Hernandez give CSN arguably the most talented group of position players returning to the Scenic West Athletic Conference. Not to be outdone, the potential returning arms that include Nick Rupp, Matty Mitchell, Isaiah Blaylock, Matt Gilbertson, JD Brooks, Buddy Pindel, Dylan Krans, Tanner Lewis and Spencer Cofer have the ability to be absolutely electric and ignite a run to the programs fourth Junior College World Series.    

A few seasons ago Coach Garritano addressed his team with this quote, "Don't be sad it's over, be happy it happened." In a nutshell that quote sums up this past season perfectly, and despite falling short of expectations in 2018 next year's team should have the motivation, talent and drive to bring the program its first national title since 2003.