HENDERSON, Nev. (February 28, 2022) – With winter sports in the rear view mirror, the College of Southern Nevada Athletic Department is turning its attention outside. 
 
The CSN Baseball team will open Scenic West Athletic Conference play at Salt Lake Community College, while the CSN Softball program will host Colorado Northwestern Community College. The Lady Coyotes host three of their first four Scenic West series at home.
 
For more information and upcoming schedules, visit csncoyotes.com.
 
Baseball: After a hard non-conference series against Cochise College, the Coyotes will travel to northern Utah for a series with another Scenic West contender.
 
CSN will travel to play at Salt Lake Community College, playing a four-game series with the defending Scenic West Athletic Conference champions. The Coyotes will be playing their first road game, having only played home games and neutral-site games to this point.
 
Southern Nevada coach Nick Garritano said this weekend's games against Salt Lake will be a stiff challenge.
 
"Salt Lake always is extremely athletic on the offensive and defensive side and has always done a tremendous job of pitching the baseball against us," he said. "There is absolutely no doubt that we must play to the best of our ability to have any chance to be successful up there.  We have had clubs clicking in the past that have had troubles up there. I will tell you this though, we are looking at the bigger picture and that is getting fully healthy, learning to compete more throughout an entire at-bat, and competing every pitch on the mound and defensive side."
 
Garritano said the challenges of playing in league play are different from non-conference games.
 
"I feel we have played an extremely tough non-conference schedule to help get us ready for the always tough SWAC league schedule," he noted. "This past weekend sort of backfired on us as we played very poorly; it created sleepless nights trying to figure out how we can get better in a hurry. Traveling to SLCC has always been a very difficult trip, and to do it this week coming off getting swept for the first time in 10 years at home is very worrisome, to be totally honest."
 
Softball: After a month off, the Lady Coyotes will open Scenic West play with a home series. 
 
CSN will host Colorado Northwestern in a four-game series at Lady Coyotes Softball Field, playing doubleheaders on both Friday and Saturday. Southern Nevada is just 3-7 overall, but is riding a two-game winning streak heading into the Scenic West opener
 
Lady Coyotes coach Ashley Johnston said her team's focus will need to change heading into Scenic West play. 
 
"We are excited and feel ready to step out on the field," she said. "It's been a long month off. We have spent some time off the field as well. We enjoyed some team bonding activities as well as doing our part to serve the community. We also got to work on some of the things that needed to be polished after coming off of preseason games."
 
Johnston noted how Colorado Northwestern always presents a challenge on the road.
 
"We are looking to come out strong and put all of our hard work into playing consistently throughout the four-game series," he said. "We need to take one game at a time and trust our ability."