WNC Baseball: Karnos, Bickford Put on PItching Show at CSN
Submitted by editor on Fri, 05/01/2015 - 12:08pm
Major League Baseball scouts coming out to see highly touted right-handed pitcher Phil Bickford on Thursday saw a couple of other arms to focus their radar guns on in Henderson.
Western Nevada College sophomore right-hander Max Karnos allowed just one hit through the first six innings and sophomore reliever Connor Zwetsch threw 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief as the Wildcats nearly handed Bickford his second defeat of the season.
Kenny Meimerstorf triggered a two-run seventh inning with a solo homer and Jose Verdugo lined a run-scoring single to center as the College of Southern Nevada Coyotes rallied for a 2-1 victory to clinch an outright Scenic West Athletic Conference baseball title.
"There are no moral victories. It's nearly May; you either win or you lose," said WNC coach D.J. Whittemore. "It was a real good baseball game, and they made one more play and got one more hit than us."
A well-timed swing by DJ Peters wiped away Bickford's shutout in the fifth. Peters smashed a Bickford fastball off the light pole in left-center field, a drive of more than 370 feet. It was Peters' seventh homer of the season, second only to Corey Pool's eight.
"It was a no-doubter; he caught that one flush," Whittemore said.
Besides those hitting highlights and a three-hit performance by Wildcat leadoff hitter Jake Bennett, the evening belong to the pitchers. Bickford and Karnos combined for 20 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings between them.
In the sixth, Bennett added to his productive night at the plate by depositing a Bickford slider into center field for a base hit. But the 2013 MLB first-round selection was able to prevent the Wildcats from expanding their 1-0 lead and exited after the sixth. With his fastball touching as high as 96 mph, Bickford struck out 12 Wildcats without walking a batter. He gave up five hits.
"There's a reason he's a first-round draft pick and one of the best 10 or 15 amateur pitchers in the world," Whittemore said. "He's made a really nice adjustment with his breaking ball. He's improving." Karnos (5-5) kept the Coyotes' hitters guessing, surrendering four hits and striking out eight.
"Max had a good breaking ball, good command and good movement, and that's what being a pitcher is all about," Whittemore said.
WNC dug in Thursday at Morse Stadium in Henderson. The Wildcats will play a lot of baseball there during the next week. No matter what happens in their final regular-season series, the Wildcats will return to the same location next week for the double-elimination Region 18 Tournament.
Bennett provided WNC with the first scoring chance. After stroking a base hit, Bennett stole second base. But Bickford retired the next three Wildcats.
Bickford, who came into his last start of the regular season with an 8-1 record, 1.48 ERA and 126 strikeouts in 67 innings, found his rhythm in the second inning, retiring the Wildcats in order, including two on strikes.
Karnos was up to the challenge of matching Bickford's goose eggs. After a scoreless first, he worked his way out of a two-base runner jam in the second with a strikeout of Cain Brady. The Coyotes didn't produce another base runner until the seventh.
Bennett supplied another scoring opportunity for the Wildcats in the third. Bennett socked a two-out double to center field and advanced to third when the throw from the outfield got through the infield. But Bickford struck out David Modler with a high heater to end the threat.
"This time of the year you want your sophomores to carry the way," Whittemore said. "They play big in big games, and that's exactly what Jake did."
A resurgent Zwetsch used a double play to keep CSN from extending its lead in the seventh inning and then the Wildcat closer struck out two of the Coyote hitters he faced in the eighth.
Winners of seven of their past eight games, the Wildcats saw their SWAC record drop to 15-14, one game better than fourth-place College of Southern Idaho.
"At the rate we're going, they're going to own the tiebreaker over us, so we have to win two out of three," Whittemore said.
WNC (31-22) lost three of four games to CSN when the teams met March 26-28 in Carson City. The clubs will play twice on Friday, with the twin bill starting at 2 p.m.
