WNC Baseball: Wildcats rally to win Region 18 Title in Henderson

No deficit is too large for the Western Nevada College Wildcats. WNC fell behind College of Southern Nevada, 5-0, in the second inning of the Region 18 baseball championship on Saturday afternoon in Henderson but rallied with six runs in the final two innings to overtake the Coyotes, 11-9.

Chad Bell delivered the knockout punch, a two-run homer with one out in the ninth inning after the Coyotes tied the score in the top of the inning.

"Man, one of the greatest moments of my life," Bell said. "I knew the wind was blowing out to left field and most of my hits go to left-center field, so I was just looking for a fastball over the plate that I could stay on. I thought it had a pretty good chance of going out."

Once it cleared the left-center-field fence, Bell soaked up the special moment and saw all of his teammates waiting for him to]]at home plate to begin their Region 18 championship celebration. He chucked his his helmet 20 feet into the air before he was mobbed by his teammates.

"It was absolutely breathtaking. When I got home, I could barely breathe," Bell said.

Assistant coach Aaron "Demo" Demosthenes didn't hesitate to give Bell the green light to his freshman third baseman on a 2-0 count.

"Not at all," Demosthenes said. "I think we've seen Chad hit the other way with authority all year long. He hasn't always had the breaks, but he believed in it, and he's going to get the green light every time."

It marked the second straight game the Wildcats rallied to beat CSN. WNC came back from a four-run deficit to down the Coyotes, 9-7, on Friday to advance to the title game of the double-elimination tournament.

As the Region 18 champions, WNC (41-17) of Carson City, earned a spot into the Western District tournament May 19-21 at Trinidad, Colo.

"This is an incredible thrill beyond my wildest imagination," said WNC coach D.J. Whittemore said. "For the freshmen to show up on campus knowing that it was the final year of the program and for the sophomores to stick together and come back, what a family."

In the bottom of the eighth inning, WNC crept within a run when Alec Hutt walked Brogan Secrist with the bases loaded, ending Hutt's extended relief outing. Reliever Ben Cutting's first pitch hit Bradley Lewis, forcing in the tying run. After Daniel Nist fell behind Cutting 0-2, he bashed a two-run single to left field to put WNC ahead 9-7. It was the second straight day that Nist delivered a two-run hit to put WNC ahead.

"We all just believe in each other," Nist said. "When We get in those late innings we just have people that keep us in it and we grind out ABs. The guys in front of me get the knocks and lets me get up and get the knocks."

After locating his fastball and breaking ball in the opening inning, Chase Kaplan lost his command in the second. Walks to Jesse Keiser and Jay Martz sandwiched between base hits by Drew Newson and Jarrett Perns put CSN ahead, 1-0. Kaplan also fell behind Dillon Johnson, and the Coyotes' leadoff hitter made him pay, launching a grand slam just over the outstretched glove of left fielder Bradley Lewis.

Kaplan came back to strike out a pair of Coyotes to avoid further trouble in the inning. In the fourth, Kaplan reached back to catch a liner off the bat of Jordan Hand, then threw to first to double off Jarrell Latham.

Following the Coyotes' five-run outburst in the second, Kaplan quieted CSN's offense, retiring 17 of 22 batters through the seventh inning. His resurgence enabled the Wildcats to force a 5-5 tie in the seventh.

WNC broke through against Coyote starter Todd Danzeisen in the sixth inning, with Abe Yagi's walk starting a three-run rally. Lewis, who took the Coyote pitcher to the warning track in his previous at-bat, lined one off the glove of a diving Latham in right-center field for a double. Nist's hard single to left plated Yagi for WNC's first run. Casey Cornwell's RBI single to center pulled WNC within 5-2.

To keep Kaplan in the game, he batted in the designated hitter spot and nearly knocked in a run. After fouling off a pitch, he was robbed by second baseman Johnson, who forced out Cornwell at second.

"We've seen him taking batting practice and he's the pitchers' home run champ by a lot," Demosthenes said. "He's a big, strong guy."

With Kaplan on first base and Nist on third, David Modler brought home the third run of the inning with a hot smash to center. The Coyotes prevented further damage when Bell's lineout was turned into a double play.
The Wildcats continued the comeback trail against Hutt in the seventh.

Successive base hits by Bell, Peters and pinch-hitter Brogan Secrist brought the Wildcats within a run, 5-4. Hutt came back to strike out Lewis, but with Secrist running on the play, the ball glanced off his batting helmet as swiped second base and went into left field, permitting Tim Lichty to score the tying run.

After being blanked since the second inning, the Coyotes caught up to a tiring Kaplan in the eighth inning, scoring twice for a 7-5 lead. Perns' RBI single chased Kaplan, leaving Jordan Dreibelbis to extinguish the rally. He gave up a RBI base hit to Johnson before ending the rally with a strikeout and fly out.

The Wildcats worked the Coyote bullpen for four walks during their four-run rally in the eighth, which was punctuated by Nist's two-out, two-run knock.

But the Coyotes showed their mettle in the ninth against closer Ty Fox, who was gunning for his third save in as many days. The sophomore reliever and starter struck out Jordan Hand to start the ninth, but a double by Brody Westmoreland triggered a two-run scoring flurry to retie the game.

Not bothered, the Wildcats came back with their winning rally in the bottom of the inning. After Justin Mannens fouled out, Modler took a five-pitch walk, setting up Bell for his dramatic walk-off homer.

"We are all swinging the bats well," Peters said. "Whether we get down by five or down by two with two outs, it doesn't matter; we just battle at-bats one pitch at a time. "And I can't wait to get on the bus on Monday to head over to Colorado."

Fox, who collected a win and two saves in three appearances, was selected as the tournament MVP. Peters, Cornwell and Nist made the all-tournament team.