Western Nevada College found its offense just in time Friday, preventing College of Southern Nevada from taking over first place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference.
The Wildcats plated two fifth-inning runs to tie the score and then tallied five runs after two were out in the sixth to pull out a 9-4 baseball victory to gain a doubleheader split at John L. Harvey Field in Carson City. The Coyotes won the opener, 2-1, going an extra inning to reward the three-hit pitching of A.J. Jones.
CSN ace Phil Bickford's start was pushed back until Saturday, the final game of the series. WNC (10-5) now holds a one-game lead over CSN (9-6) near the halfway point of the conference season.
"If you would have told me that we had a one-game lead with 17 to go at the beginning of the season, I would have signed on the dotted line," said WNC coach D.J. Whittemore.
Limited to three hits in the eighth-inning opener and only able to scratch out two hits through the first four innings of game two, the Wildcats appeared on the verge of surrendering their perch atop the conference standings.
"Look how much range their shortstop and second baseman have, the left fielder made a really good play on a ball and the center fielder ran down some balls, so in addition to good pitching, they have a really good defense," Whittemore said.
But in the final two innings, the Wildcats rattled six hits off starting pitcher Gabe Gonzalez and reliever Kayden Porter.
"Their pitching is excellent. They are hitting their spots and they are executing," said WNC third baseman Austin Andrews, who delivered a big hit during the decisive sixth-inning rally. "We can hit, but we just need to keep hunting our pitch. I think we were getting out of our grove of hunting our pitch, and we're swinging at balls they want us to swing at rather than getting deep and seeing good pitches."
Brandon Lapointe ended Gonzalez' streak of retiring 11 batters in a row with a one-out double in the fifth. A throwing error by left fielder Matt Waldren on Andrews' single enabled Lapointe to score and cut CSN's lead to 4-3. With Jon Guzman on third and Andrews on second, David Modler attempted a bunt early in the count before hitting a sacrifice fly to score Guzman with the tying run.
The momentum at the plate continued for the Wildcats in the sixth. Porter gave up a leadoff single to Kody Reynolds and a base hit to right by Tim Lichty moved Reynolds to second. Then a deep fly to center by Peters worked just as well as a sacrifice bunt, allowing the two Wildcat baserunners to advance a base.
With two outs, Lapointe walked to load the bases, setting up a key confrontation between Porter and Guzman. After getting two strikes on Guzman, Porter hit Guzman in the back to bring home Reynolds with the go-ahead run.
"That changed the game right there," said Whittemore, praising Guzman, who was hit twice in the second game to earn a share of the team lead with four hit by pitches. "John is tough. He didn't flinch, so he deserved that RBI."
Andrews followed with a two-run double down the right-field line, giving the Wildcats some breathing room at 7-4.
"Everything just started to click. After Jon got hit, I just wanted to stick with the approach and expand the lead," Andrews said. "And I stuck with the pitch and put it down the line. It felt good."
Modler capped the five-run rally with a two-run double off the center-field fence.
"We definitely didn't want to lose that first one after losing yesterday, but we battled back really well and battled the whole second game and had that big inning," Guzman said. "Andrews and Modler put very good swings on the ball and came up very, very clutch for us."
Ty Fox, normally one of the Wildcats' four starting pitchers, relieved Chase Kaplan to start the sixth. After giving up a leadoff single to Jose Verdugo, Fox retired the next three Coyotes, including two on strikes.
"All of my pitches felt good. I didn't care about that one hit; I knew that they weren't going to get any more," Fox said.
Fox (3-1) struck out the first Coyote in the seventh and then benefited from a crowd-pleasing, game-ending double play started by Modler at second base.
"The idea is to try to keep a win a win ... play for today and worry about tomorrow later," Whittemore said. "That was a decision that we made at the end of last week, that Ty was going to be in the bullpen. He responded well."
The Wildcats jumped on Gonzalez in game two. Jake Bennett followed a walk to Modler with a double to deep center field. Modler was held by third-base coach Frank Carey and later scored on Lichty's groundout to first. Peters subsequently plated Bennett with a double to right-center field but was thrown out trying to stretch the extra-base hit into a triple.
The lead was short-lived as Kaplan struggled with his control in the second inning. He walked the first two batters and hit the third. All three came around to score, along with Gerald Robins, who reached on a run-scoring bunt single. Tyler Brown's two-run base hit to center capped the four-run inning.
In the opener, WNC sophomore starting pitcher Max Karnos struggled to record the third out in the first two innings. The Coyotes strung together a pair of two-out singles in the first, but Karnos struck out Ali Deolarte for the third out. In the second, Reece Lucero was stranded on base after a two-out single to left, as Cain Brady grounded out to Modler.
But Karnos couldn't get out of a third-inning jam unscathed. Jesse Keiser singled with one out, stole second base and advanced to third when catcher Licthy's throw wound up in center field. After a walk and strikeout, Deolarte sliced a single just in front of diving left fielder Bradley Lewis. Keiser scored easily for the game's first run, but Kenny Meimerstorf was caught in a rundown between second and third bases for the third out.
With only one hit through the first four innings, the Wildcats finally mustered some offense in the fifth against Jones. Reynolds, who produced the only Wildcat hit to that point, beat the throw from third baseman Jose Verdugo for an infield single. DJ Peters' base hit to right field sent Reynolds to third. After Bradley Lewis couldn't put down two bunt attempts to squeeze in a run, he lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to score Reynolds with the tying run.
The Coyotes couldn't do anything with Karnos in the fourth through seventh innings. He retired the side in order in all four innings.
"I just kept the ball low. I was making sure all of my off-speed pitches were located better than the first three innings," Karnos said. " They were kind of guessing pitches and it wasn't really working out for them."
Karnos exited after the seventh frame, with five hits allowed and one earned run. He fanned eight and walked one.
"That's something that's out of his control, it's out of my control. He's got to do what he can: make quality pitches and make it hard on the other team to score and let the offense take care of their end," Whittemore said.
In the eighth, the Coyotes used an error, a sacrifice bunt and a single by Keiser to put the potential winning run 90 feet away from the plate. When the Wildcats' middle infield couldn't turn a double play on Kenny Meimerstorf's groundball off Cody Kerns (2-1), the Coyotes again enjoyed a one-run lead.
CSN reliever Josh Nuernberg kept the Wildcats off the bases in the bottom of the inning to close out the win for Jones (6-3). Jones worked seven innings, surrendering three hits and one earned run.
Bennett's streak of reaching base ended at 40 games, but the sophomore center fielder started a new one in game two.
Now, the Wildcats can turn their attention toward Bickford, who was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays with the 10th choice in the 2013 Major League Baseball amateur draft.
"We've been preparing all week for this and it's exciting to get this challenge," Andrews said. "Good things will happen as long as we listen coach "Demo" (Aaron Demosthenes) and go with what they say."
Fans who are unable to attend the games, can follow the action from Wildcats play-by-play announcer Charles Whisnand at www.ustream.tv/channel/western-nevada-baseball or at www.sidearmstats.com/wnc/baseball. Saturday's game will conclude a 21-game home stand for the Wildcats.