HENDERSON, Nev. (April 3, 2019) – The No. 10 College of Southern Nevada Coyotes have enjoyed a great deal of success in the 2019 baseball season.
Unfortunately, the Coyotes have dealt with so much success that they've had little opportunity to bounce back from disappointment. How CSN deals with that disappointment will be on full display this weekend as Southern Nevada comes back from a 1-3 weekend against nationally-ranked Salt Lake Community College and travels to play a four-game series at the College of Southern Idaho.
Coyotes coach
Nick Garritano said his team is excited for the opportunity to respond after last week's inconsistency.
"We need to get back to basic fundamentals on the offensive and defensive side," he said. "We need to focus on grinding a little more in the box, especially when there are runners in scoring position.
"Back-to-back weekends on the road against SLCC and now CSI is a very daunting task for us. We will have to execute much better this weekend in Twin Falls than we did in Salt Lake City this past weekend to have a successful weekend."
A few plays separated CSN from going 4-0 over the weekend as the Coyotes lost three games by a total of eight runs. Friday included a 4-3 extra-innings loss to SLCC, while Sunday's 4-2 and 6-1 losses were both close late into each game.
As Southern Nevada prepares for its next round of games, the Coyotes are still solidly in second place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference with a record of 11-3 in league play - just 2.5 games behind Salt Lake Community College. The Coyotes and Bruins are the only two teams in league play with winning records.
Southern Idaho is one of the Scenic West members who has had an inconsistent season, posting a mark of 6-9 to this point in league play. The Golden Eagles went 3-1 in a weekend series against USU Eastern, losing the final game of the series. The Coyotes swept CSI in their previous series, going 4-0 in Henderson.
CSI has a team batting average of .281 and a team ERA of 4.30. Southern Nevada still has the league's top pitching staff with a 2.44 team ERA.
Nick Rupp was the lone Coyote pitcher to earn a victory last weekend, pitching a complete game of 7 innings, 2 hits and 1 earned run while striking out 8 SLCC batters.
Southern Nevada and Southern Idaho will play a four-game series this weekend. Friday's doubleheader is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start, while Saturday's doubleheader will begin at 12:00 p.m. Southern Nevada's next home series is scheduled for April 19-20 against Colorado Northwestern Community College.
