baseball

Cody Hamlin scattered seven hits and struck out 10 and Joseph Crunkilton homered as Western Nevada College rallied for a 3-1 victory over Salt Lake in the Region 18 baseball tournament on Thursday in Henderson.

The victory sends the Wildcats (39-18) into a winners’ bracket matchup with tournament host College of Southern Nevada, which routed College of Southern Idaho 10-1, at noon Friday.

The teams quickly settled into a fast-paced pitchers’ duel between Hamlin and Brady Corless.

No Scenic West Athletic Conference baseball team has had a better won-loss record than the Western Nevada College Wildcats over the last half of the season.

After concluding the first half of the conference season by losing three of four games at College of Southern Idaho and seeing their record fall below .500, the Wildcats won 14 of their final 16 games. Their only two defeats during that stretch were to conference winner College of Southern Nevada, which hosts this week’s postseason tournament.

The Carson City CrossFit Future Athlete Sport Conditioning Summer Camp will run June 10 through July 12.

This will be for all youth athletes playing football, soccer, basketball, baseball, track, cross country, tennis, or want to get in to the Sport of Fitness, CrossFit.

The program will encompass strength training, sport conditioning, kettlebells, tire flips, plyometrics, and sprints. This program is designed for the young athlete to not only get stronger but get better conditioning in during the summer months.

As the Scenic West Athletic Conference baseball season winds to a close, Western Nevada College gave itself momentum and possibly a better seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The Wildcats swept a doubleheader Friday against College of Southern Idaho, 5-3 and 10-8, at John L. Harvey Field.

The victories assure that WNC will be no lower than the third seed in the upcoming conference tournament in Henderson, and leave the door open for a No. 2 seed. The Wildcats will play another doubleheader against CSI on Saturday at noon, in Carson City.

A day after NBA basketball player Jason Collins came out as gay to Sports Illustrated, a former NFL coach and an Oakland Raider record-setting placekicker believe the NFL is ready to accept a gay football player.

"I don't think the NFL is going to have a problem," said Herm Edwards, former Kansas City Chiefs head coach, now an NFL analyst for ESPN. "Is there going to be a vote of confidence in the locker room? For some of the younger and immature players, but the veteran players — they get it."

Outstanding Western Nevada College students and faculty have been honored for outstanding scholarship and teaching during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Awards were presented to students for academic excellence, tutoring, peer mentorship, athletics, those in the Latino cohort and in student government, as well as to faculty for outstanding teaching and service during the 2012-13 academic year.

Faculty of the Year honors went to Mathematics Professor Michael Hardie, Ed.D. and English instructor Ryan Stryffeler, Ph.D.

A young boy walking to Seeliger Elementary School in Carson City was approached by a man Wednesday morning who was driving an older-model mini-van, now being sought after by authorities.

The juvenile was walking north on Saliman Road Wednesday morning and was approached by the man at around 8:05 a.m., between Kingsley Lane and Sonoma Street, said Sgt. Earl Mays.

Carson City sheriff's patrol officers are looking for a dark or navy blue minivan and the driver, described as a white male in his mid 30s with short dark hair and sideburns.

Any chance that Western Nevada College would suffer a letdown against Colorado Northwestern after a road sweep over defending Scenic West Athletic Conference champion Salt Lake was knocked out of the park. Instead, the Wildcats erupted for 46 runs and a weekend sweep.

AJ Hernandez hit two home runs, Conor Harber wore out opposing pitchers, and five Wildcats threw multiple scoreless innings Western extended its win streak to eight games.

Come out and support the Carson Capitals Baseball Program in their inaugural Grand Slam Run on April 28th at 10 am at El Charro Avitia. This is a 5K and 10K event for the entire family. Registration is $25 Adults prior to April 18 and $30 after and only $15 for kids ages 5-14. There will be race day registration from 8:30-9:30 am for $35. Registration for the race gets you a water bottle and buffet lunch. You can also purchase Lunch tickets for $10 if you aren't able to run.

When D.J. Whittemore was an assistant baseball coach at Wooster High School in 2002, he almost overstepped his boundaries.

A Wooster hitter was one strike from striking out during the state tournament, and head coach Ron Malcolm was ready to put in a pinch-hitter because he didn’t like what he saw.

CARSON CITY — Anytime a child picks up a book and reads it cover to cover, it is the equivalent to hitting a home run.

Emphasizing the importance of reading to more than 100 Seeliger Elementary fourth graders, WNC baseball players Donald Glover, Evan Parker and Carson Now sports editor and play-by-play announcer Chris Graham used the children's book "Home Run" to encourage youngsters to think of reading like playing baseball or softball. Finishing books from front to back should be celebrated because the rewards — learning something new — will last a lifetime.

CARSON CITY — Scott Parker has joined the Carson City branch of AAA as the branch manager. He will oversee the 10 employees and office operations related to insurance, travel and memberships of the century-old-plus company. He started on Jan. 14.

Parker, who hails from Medford, Ore., has a long history of management in the insurance industry. This includes a 26-year stint with Farmers Insurance Group in different capacities. He last worked as a district sales manager after serving as a reserve district manager and agency owner as an independent agent.

A 44-year-old Carson City man was arrested after officers were led in a foot pursuit that went inside a busy local restaurant. The man, identified as Tony Clarence Wilson, was tasered on the patio of the establishment located in the 1000 block of South Carson Street.

Wilson faces a felony charge of being a felon in possession of ammunition and misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest, possession of drug paraphernalia, and violation of a suspended sentence. The arrest happened Feb. 1 at 8:30 p.m.

In a 5-2 decision the Reno City Council on Wednesday approved restructuring the financial agreements amounting to about $30 million related to the Reno Aces baseball stadium project. Council Members Brekhus and Schieve opposed the plan.

Two Top-10 nationally ranked teams will face-off this weekend in sunny Arizona. #2 Central Arizona College and #8 Western Nevada College will play four games starting this Friday in Arizona. Last year at this time, both teams faced off in Las Vegas and WNC took three out of the four games. Central Arizona was ranked #1 at the time. The Wildcats also eliminated CAC from the playoffs last season by beating them 9-3 in Salt Lake City, UT during the Western District Tournament.

For the first time in program history, the Western Nevada College baseball team will open its season at home.

A rainy forecast in Las Vegas has prompted WNC and South Mountain Community College to move their Friday and Saturday doubleheaders to John L. Harvey Field in Carson City.

“I hope to see the faithful at the yard for 50-degree temperatures tomorrow,” said WNC baseball coach D.J. Whittemore.

Doubleheaders are scheduled for 11 a.m. both days.

Casey W. McDonald was born on Sept. 14, 1961 in Schurz, Nevada to Wilfred and Beatrice McDonald. As a child, Casey grew fond of baseball and shared with his friends and family his love of the ga...

A 26-year-old Dayton man was arrested and faces felony charges of battery on a police officer and probation violation after he allegedly punched a Carson City deputy twice in the face with a closed fist.

Christopher Scholl was arrested at 2 a.m., Thursday in the 1700 block of Fair Way after a foot chase with officers. According to the arrest report, officers were patrolling the area of Empire Ranch Road and Morgan Mill Road. A vehicle entered the Empire Ranch neighborhood and began driving around and came to stop in front of a home on Fair Way.

Baseball pollsters weren’t reluctant to include a young Western Nevada College squad among the top teams in their preseason rankings, given the Wildcats’ penchant for success over the past several years.

WNC, which made it to the JUCO World Series for the third time in program history last spring, has been ranked eighth in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll. The honor came despite the fact that Head Coach D.J. Whittemore must replace 15 of his top 18 players from a team that posted a 48-17 record and won the NJCAA Western District title for a third time.

For the first time since 1996 and only the eighth time in history, Cooperstown will not be welcoming anybody to the hallowed ground of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and we could be seeing a lot more years like this to come unfortunately. The 2013 ballot saw many newcomer names that were superstars in their playing days.

Carson Now is proud to begin its third year of being a host to Western Nevada College Baseball broadcasts. Western Nevada Baseball is now widely known as a national power across the USA. In 2012, Carson Now brought you the exciting season that saw the Wildcats baseball program make it to their third JUCO World Series appearance. This year, the Wildcats will have a strong team that is anxious at retaking that trip to Grand Junction, Colorado.

RENO, Nev. — Thirty-two Wolf Pack student-athletes representing 12 teams have applied for graduation at the University of Nevada this winter. Ceremonies for the 2012 Winter Commencement are set for Saturday, Dec. 8 at Lawlor Events Center.

Major League Baseball’s Matt Williams is coming home. The Carson High School graduate who is a World Series winner and five-time All-Star will headline the 10th annual Western Nevada College Wildcats Athletics Gala Dinner on Thursday, Jan. 24, at the Downtown Reno Ballroom. The event will also benefit Carson High School baseball and softball.

Tickets are $100, with tables of 10 for $850 through December 31 and $1,000 afterward. They are available through the WNC Foundation at 445-3240 or at www.wnc.edu/wildcatsgala/.

The City of Reno seems to be dropping the ball when it comes to adhering to their side of the agreement with the owners of the Reno Aces.

In a letter dated November 28th 2012 written to the Mayor of Reno Robert Cashell from the President of Triple-A Baseball Branch E. Rickey, President Rickey tells a damning story of what Reno has failed to do to. This letter has given permission to the owners of the Aces to relocate if the City of Reno fails to come to an agreement on a refinancing deal for Aces Ballpark.

After broadcasting live play-by-play Western Nevada College baseball games for six seasons, and recently taking on regular sports blog reporting and analysis for Carson Now, it would be only fitting to give Chris J. Graham the title of Sports Editor. And so as of today we are.

Graham, 26, will step up sports coverage for Carson Now with continued blogs, stories, interviews, analysis and plans in early 2013 for a one-hour weekly broadcast sports show.

With all of the crazy “Black Friday” shopping madness now safely behind us, we can begin, once again, to think rationally about ideas for Christmas gifts for that special person(s) in our lives.
So, if you were not part of that frenzied mob scene on the day after Thanksgiving, or if you are still scratching your head about what to get for that person, here are some “Don Q” suggestions for Christmas gifts:

National power Western Nevada College Baseball continues to make more splashes in the NCAA Division I rank. Evan Parker, Mike Umscheid, and Brandon Show have already signed letters of intent to play at 4 year colleges starting in the fall of 2013. This will put the number of WNC Baseball players to move onto higher levels at 95 in just seven seasons.

Carson City officers arrested five people on Saturday with two facing felony assault charges after a fight at the former Toads Bar in Carson City.

Officers responded to the bar in the 300 block of William Street at 10:22 p.m. where they observed two men dragging, kicking and punching a man near the front entrance. Arresting officers ordered the men involved in the melee to the ground, which they complied, according to the arrest report.

Now that the MLB season has come to an end, the offseason begins. Here are my predictions for the awards:

What are some high schools thinking? Some high schools around the nation are lowering or have already lowered the Grade Point Average (GPA) requirements for their student-athletes, and some go as low as 1.6 (a “D” average). This is absolutely absurd to me. I watched a show on ESPN about this and it left me fuming. I cannot believe that schools are so lazy to teach their pupils. They are indirectly saying: “Students struggle so we are not going to work to get them better.”