By James Hernandez 

An abbreviated weekend series versus the Colorado Northwestern Spartans in the home of the Junior College World Series (Grand Junction, Colorado) saw the Coyotes run its junior college best winning streak to an eye-popping 21 games. Southern Nevada returned home hoping to protect the streak and remain unbeaten in SWAC play as they welcomed the Utah State University Eastern Eagles to the "Den" this past weekend.

Anytime a winning streak spans nearly two full months, it takes elements of skill, determination and flat-out luck to keep the streak living on.

Game one of the series was a perfect example of how both luck and skill factored into the streak for Southern Nevada baseball. Future Pitt Panther Matt Gilbertson (5-1) found himself making his third consecutive SWAC opening series start, looking to set the tone on the bump for the Coyotes pitching staff. "Gilby" continued to dominate the opposition, striking out a season-high nine batters over 6.1 innings of scoreless baseball.

A wild pitch in the bottom of the first inning allowed Dax Fellows to plate the Coyotes (and games) only run.

Chase Bauerle was summoned out of the pen to collect the final two outs of the game, securing his fourth save of the season and preserving the 1-0 victory for the Coyotes. CSN improved to 7-0 in conference and 24-4 overall.

Unbeaten freshman Johnny Cuevas (4-0) took the ball in game two, hoping to extend the winning streak to 23 games while keeping his overall record as a starting pitcher unblemished in 2019.

Cuevas was nasty from the opening pitch, firing seven frames of 2-hit shutout baseball, despite only receiving one run of support from his offense. Thankfully the Coyotes bats decided to wake up in the bottom of the seventh striking for a four spot courtesy of 2-RBI singles off the bats of Nick Hernandez and Steven Rivas.

Freshman arms Jimmy Gamboa and Nick Thompson emerged out of the pen to pitch clean frames in the top of the eighth and ninth to preserve both the victory and the shutout.

CSN dropped USUE 5-0, improving to 8-0 in SWAC play and 25-4 overall.

Despite a 25-4 overall mark from its starting staff, Southern Nevada baseball had yet to get a complete game from its pitching staff.

Enter future University of Houston commit Nick Rupp, a sophomore southpaw who was fresh off a combined no-hitter in which he fanned nine batters in seven no-hit innings of work.

Rupp was absolutely filthy versus the Eagles, tossing a six inning complete game shutout, fanning seven and surrendering just one hit.

After plating just six runs over the first two games, the CSN offense came to life for a ten spot in game three of the series. Steven Rivas produced his second 2 RBI game of the weekend with a 2-3 day at the dish, followed by single runs batted in off the bats of Jack Pineda, Nick Hernandez, Matt Wong, Jay Desoto, Roger Riley and Joey Walls.

The Coyotes breezed past the Eagles 10-0, improving to 9-0 in the SWAC and 26-4 overall.

After securing the first three victories of the series in dominant fashion, sophomore Isaiah (IB) Blaylock made his long-awaited 2019 debut.

The redshirt sophomore was on the bump for the first time since suffering season-ending Tommy John surgery in 2018. An emotional Blaylock pitched one inning of two-run baseball, exiting to a standing ovation from both the home crowd as well as his teammates.

A pair of wild pitches in the bottom of the third inning followed by a Matt Wong RBI single put the Coyotes ahead for the first time in the game. Sophomore Steven Rivas stepped up to the dish with a pair of runners on and smashed a no-doubter over the left field wall to extend CSN's lead to 6-3. The three RBI's gave Rivas a team-high seven over the four game series as the southpaw appears to be heating up at exactly the right time for Coach Garritano and the Coyotes.

Johnny Cuevas and freshman backstop Cole Schaefer chipped in with a pair of RBI's apiece to help secure the sweep.

Buddy Pindel improved to 3-0 on the season after securing the victory and frosh Josh Brown his scoreless innings streak to eight with a scoreless top of the eighth.

Southern Nevada blasted Utah State Eastern 13-5 in the series finale, improving to 10-0 in the SWAC and 27-4 overall.

Fans your Coyotes will be in Taylorsville, Utah Friday March 29^th and Saturday March 30^th to battle the SLCC Bruins for the top spot in the Scenic West Athletic Conference.

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