By James Hernandez

Following 21 games of competitive non-conference baseball that included marquee matchups versus nationally ranked San Jacinto (TX), Arizona Western, Central Arizona and South Mountain (AZ), Southern Nevada set its sights on re-establishing its grip on the Scenic West Athletic Conference. First up on the revenge tour was a trip to the "Den" for the defending conference, region and district champions, the College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles.

Future Pitt Panther Matt Gilbertson (3-1) got the ball in the series opener, featuring a microscopic earned run average under one in four stellar starts to begin the 2019 season. "Gilby" was tagged for five runs over four inconsistent frames of work, but still departed the game with a four run cushion thanks to a productive Southern Nevada offense.

The Coyotes eruption for nine runs in its first three innings with the bats was thanks in large part to freshman Johnny Cuevas. Cuevas doubled home a pair of runs in the second and sent Morse Stadium into a frenzy when he deposited some three-run yardwork over the left field wall in the bottom of the third inning. AJ Amelburu chipped in with a pair of RBI's off a double he smoked in a six run bottom of the third for CSN.

JD Brooks emerged out of the Coyotes bullpen in the top of the seventh to nail down his second save of 2019 after tossing a scoreless frame.

CSN outlasted CSI 12-9, improving to 1-0 in conference play and improving to 18-4 overall.

After a combined 21 runs were plated by both teams in the seven inning opener, Coach Garritano sent Johnny Cuevas to the mound hoping to silence the Golden Eagle bats.

Cuevas responded to his manager's confidence in him with his best pitching effort in a CSN uniform. Johnny was electric over eight stellar innings of 1-run baseball, scattering just five hits and issuing just one free pass while punching-out seven Southern Idaho hitters.

His opposite number Cannon Secrist was effective out the gate as well, keeping a white-hot Southern Nevada lineup off the scoreboard through four frames of his 6.2 innings of work.

They say 2 out base knocks get you to heaven, and if that's the case Joey Walls is well on his way there. Walls doubled down the left field line with two away in the bottom of the fifth, plating Matt Wong and AJ Amelburu to get the Coyotes out in front 2-0.

Preseason SWAC player of the year front-runner Hayden Leatham cut the Coyotes lead in half in the top of the seventh with a run-scoring single to left field.

Former University of Utah commit Chase Bauerle tossed a clean top of the ninth to secure Cuevas' fourth victory of the year and earn his team-leading third save of 2019.

CSN edged CSI 2-1 to improve to 2-0 in the SWAC and 19-4 overall.

After surviving a pair of nip/tuck battles that extended the Coyotes winning streak to 17 games, southpaw Nick Rupp was on the bump looking to extend the winning streak to 18 games and improve his overall season mark to 3-0.

The future University of Houston Cougar surrendered just three runs over 5.2 legit innings of work that included 7 strikeouts while scattering five hits and allowing just one free pass.

Matt Wong and AJ Amelburu got the got the scoring started with RBI singles in the bottom of the first, followed by a pair of runs touching home courtesy of two wild pitches off the arm of Matt Hansen. With Southern Nevada staked to a 4-1 lead entering the bottom of the second, the beast known simply as "Chewy" began feasting on Golden Eagle pitching. Nick Hernandez added to his NJCAA leading RBI total with a pair of round trippers in the bottom of the second and fourth innings, tallying five RBI's total and extending the Coyotes lead to 9-2.

Joey Walls added an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth and Trever Berg tossed 1.1 scoreless innings behind Rupp to secure Southern Nevada's 18^th consecutive victory.

CSN flexed on CSI 10-4, improving to 3-0 in Scenic West play and 20-4 overall in 2019.

The man known around the 'Den" simply as "Deuces" got the start in the series finale hoping to help his team breakout the brooms in its SWAC series opener.

Pindel was locked in from the opening pitch, firing 5.2 frames of two-run baseball that included a career-high nine strikeouts.

La Cueva, New Mexico product Jack Pineda plated the first run of the game with a clutch two-out knock back up the box in the bottom of the third that plated Nicholas Israel. Israel found himself back up to bat in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of runners on base with two away. "Izzy" crushed a triple to right-center off the arm of Ty Sorensen that plated Johnny Cuevas and AJ Amelburu to extend the Coyotes lead to 3-0.  

Garrett Clarke, Ed O'Bannon III and Josh Brown combined to fire 3.1 scoreless frames of two-hit baseball to slam the door on the Golden Eagles and extend the Coyotes winning streak to an eye-popping 19 games.

CSN swept CSI out of the "Den" after outlasting Southern Idaho 4-2 in the weekend finale.

The victory improved Southern Nevada's conference mark to 4-0 and its overall season record to 21-4.

Fans your Coyotes will be on a bye this week, but log onto www.csncoyotes.com and follow us on Facebook CSNCoyotes and Twitter @CSN_Baseball for continuous updates on everything related to Southern Nevada Baseball.