By James Hernandez

Southern Nevada welcomed in a pair of Canadian teams this past weekend to the "Den" for the annual Coyote Slugout. CSN entered the tournament riding a six game winning streak that included a clean sweep of Pima and South Mountain in last weekend's Coyote Classic.

Buddy Pindel got the ball in the weekend opener in search of his first victory of the season while extending the teams overall run to a lucky number seven versus Okanagan College. Pindel found a comfortable groove in the start, fanning four Okanagan batters over four no-hit frames.

A bases loaded wild pitch got the Coyotes on the board in the bottom of the first, but the knockout blow was delivered one inning later. Dax Fellows found the first of his two RBI's in the game with a single to left that extended the Coyotes lead to 2-0. With the bases still loaded in the second, Nick "Chewy" Hernandez connected on his second grand slam in 13 games. Hernandez' no-doubter to left expanded CSN's lead to 6-0 and took the pressure off the Coyote arms.

Ed O'Bannon III relieved Buddy in the top of the fifth and fired a pair of no-hit innings that included three punch-outs.

The Coyotes entered the bottom of the sixth with an 8-0 advantage and Johnny Cuevas sent the crowd home happy with one mighty swing of the bat. Cuevas launched a no-doubter over the left field wall, scoring A.J. Amelburu and giving the Coyotes a dominant 10-0 run rule victory.

CSN pitchers Buddy Pindel and Ed O'Bannon III combined to give CSN its first no-hitter of 2019, dominating Okanagan over six impressive frames of work.

Southern Nevada extended its winning streak to seven games after blanking Okanagan College 10-0, improving to 9-4 overall.

Matt Gilbertson was on the bump in game two of the tournament, looking to lower his microscopic earned run average while earning his third victory of the year. "Gilby" was dialed in from the opening pitch, firing five innings of shutout baseball that included five strikeouts.

Okanagan starter Trevor Brigden silenced the Coyote bats one time through the order, however he ran into issues his second time through.

Nicholas Israel got the Coyotes on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a 2-run double down the left field line. Walls plated Israel two hitters later with a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt to the pitcher that extended CSN's lead to 3-0. Israel cemented his offensive player of the game status when he chased home his third RBI of the game in the bottom of the fifth, ballooning the Southern Nevada advantage to 5-0.

Nicholas Thompson, Chase Bauerle, J.D. Brooks and Jimmy Gamboa fired one shutout inning apiece to keep Okanagan College off the scoreboard for a second straight night.

CSN shutout OKC 5-0, improving its winning streak to 8 games while improving its overall mark to 10-4 and extending its scoreless innings pitched streak to 15 innings.

Southpaw Nick Rupp got the start in game three of the weekend, hoping to garner his first victory of the season after a pair of quality starts that resulted in no-decisions. Rupp was absolutely filthy versus Prairie Baseball Academy, limiting the Dawgs to just one hit over five stellar innings of shutout baseball.

Three run innings in the bottom of the third and fourth elevated the Coyotes to a 6-0 lead.

Southern Nevada found itself leading 8-1 entering the top of the 8^th, but a lackadaisical top half of the eighth saw PBA plate five runs to cut the CSN lead to 8-6.

Fortunately a two-run tank off the bat of "Chewy", followed by a 2-RBI double to right off the bat of Jimmy Gamboa in the bottom of that inning doubled up the Coyotes lead 12-6.

Chase Bauerle pitched a clean top of the 9^th to close out the teams 9^th straight victory and eleventh victory overall.

Southern Nevada entered its final game of the weekend streaking like they were Will Ferrell in the movie Old School.

Johnny Cuevas took the ball for the third time this season and continued to show his growth and improvement with another rock-solid effort.

Cuevas went four innings, fanning five Dawgs and surrendering just a pair of runs in the process.

CSN found itself trailing 2-1 heading to the bottom of the third, but that deficit was short-lived after the Coyote bats caught fire.

Nick "Chewy" Hernandez stepped into the batters box with the game knotted up 2-2 and three pitches later deposited his third round-tripper of the weekend over the left-centerfield wall to put his team up 4-2. Hernandez found himself back at the dish in the bottom of the fourth with the bases juiced and proceeded to etch his name in Coyote lore. "Chewy" assaulted a 2-1 pitch that found its way over the wall for the fourth time in as many games. Nick's second tank of the game was his second grand salami of the weekend and fourth long ball in as many games. The future UTPB commit amassed a career-high seven RBI's in the Coyotes 12-2 drubbing of PBA.

The victory extended CSN's winning streak to 10 games and improved its overall record to 12-4 in 2019.

Fans your Coyotes will play six home games in five days this week versus Prairie Baseball Academy and Okanagan College.

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