The Western Nevada Community College baseball team came within an eyelash of sweeping a two-game series from a talented Modesto (Calif.) team before settling for a 2-2 tie on Friday at John L. Harvey Field, the school's on-campus ballpark.
WNCC led 2-0 after seven innings when Modesto scored once in the eighth inning. Modesto rallied in the top of the ninth on a seeing eyes groundball single with runners at first and second with two outs. Second baseman Humberto Rodarte was able to knock down the ball, but his throw to the plate was just late on a bang-bang play.
The Wildcats still had an excellent chance to win in the bottom of the ninth when Rodarte nearly won the game with a walk off home run. He settled for a leadoff double off the center field fence. Jerahmie Libke then sacrificed Rodarte to third.
But after a strikeout, Carson High graduate Aaron Henry pinch hit and flew out to end the inning. Henry had been sitting out with a foot injury. The teams played one more inning before the game was called after 10 innings.
Thomas Miller doubled twice and Tyson Jaquez drove in both runs for WNCC. In the first, Spanish Springs' Brad Carlsen singled and MIller doubled. Carlson scored on a groundout by Jaquez. In the fifth, Jaquez hit an RBI double.
WNCC received outstanding pitching from starter Josh Brink, McQueen's Dan Grubbs and Ryan Iodence. Brink pitched four scoreless innings, Grubbs allowed one run over 3.2 innings and Iodence allowed a run over 2.1 innings.
Modesto was coming off a game in which it easily beat the University of Pacific, but was beaten by WNCC 14-8 on Thursday.
"We played good baseball," WNCC coach D.J. Whittemore said. "It's not the end of the world to tie." Whittemore said he was also impressed that his team didn't make an error during the two game-series.