WNC Baseball: Rain, lightning suspend final home baseball series
Heavy rain and lightning suspended the Western Nevada College-College of Southern Nevada baseball series on Thursday afternoon at John L. Harvey Field in Carson City.
The teams will pick up action at 10 a.m. Friday, with the Wildcats batting in the bottom of the fifth inning and the score tied at 2. Weather allowing, the teams will try to play two additional games following the completion of the suspended game.
"It doesn't make any difference," said WNC coach D.J. Whittemore of the condensed schedule planned for Friday. "We have to win a lot of pitches, a lot of innings."
The Wildcats need to sweep the series from the Coyotes to take the Scenic West Athletic Conference regular-season title. The Coyotes brought a 2-game lead into town.
WNC freshman first baseman Daniel Nist pulled the Wildcats even with a home run leading off the bottom of the fifth inning. Nist's eighth homer of the season traveled well over the right-fence before landing in the sagebrush.
The Wildcats continued their fifth-inning rally with a walk to Casey Cornwell.
CSN coach Nick Garritano pulled starting pitcher Sage Diehm after the free pass, bringing in Ben Cutting. Wildcat leadoff hitter David Modler lifted a single to center, providing the Wildcats with two baserunners with two outs. The umpiring crew suspended play with WNC's leading hitter, DJ Peters, coming to the plate.
WNC left-hander Matt Young had his curveball working from the outset, retiring the Coyotes in order in both the first and second innings.
In the second inning, WNC's Abe Yagi lined a one-out single to center for the game's first hit. But Diehm received a pitcher's best friend - a double play - to silence the threat.
The Coyotes struck first, scoring on a two-out hit by Dillon Johnson in the third inning. Jarrett Perns started the inning with a single to right, but Jay Martz popped up a bunt to Young for the first out. Young used his fifth groundout in the early going to move within an out of ending the threat, but Johnson took an 0-2 breaking ball into center to drive in Perns.
CSN expanded its lead to 2-0 in the fourth when Perns stroked a run-scoring base hit to right field with two outs. Young escaped further trouble by striking out Martz with two Coyotes on base.
Peters ignited a WNC rally in the fourth, leading off with a sharp single to center. Peters advanced to second base on a passed ball and went to third when catcher Drew Newson needed to throw out Tim Lichty when he didn't hold onto a third strike from Diehm. A two-out wild pitch by Diehm allowed Peters to sprint home with WNC's first run.
Through five innings, Young allowed four hits and two earned runs. He struck out four and walked two.
With more rain in the forecast for Friday and Saturday, the Wildcats' outlook hasn't swayed.
"We have been in the rain a couple of times, so it isn't much of a change at all," said WNC sophomore outfielder Bradley Lewis. "We have to come out and fight and grind."
While waiting out the rain and lightning delay, the Wildcats and Coyotes competed in another manner, performed skits and dancing. The skits included bowling, war, fishing and hunting.
"That was fun out there, and seeing the other team get involved too, it showed that both teams are just having fun and trying to compete and win," Lewis said. "Both teams definitely respect each other."
Sophomore pitcher Jordan Dreibelbis was the first Wildcat in the spotlight during the dance-off.
"We're a lot of fun," said WNC sophomore pitcher Jordan Dreibelbis. "I knew once we got it started, we'd all be willing to jump in and have a ton of fun."