After facing the toughest pitcher it has faced this season, the Western Nevada Community College baseball team rebounded to beat California's No. 2 team on Saturday.
WNCC lost to Irvine Valley in Irvine 6-0, but bounced back to defeat Santa Ana, ranked No. 2 in California, 8-2 at Santa Ana. It was the fourth win of the year for WNCC (4-3) over a ranked team. Carson High gradaute Aaron Henry went 2-for-3 and had an two-run single in the win over Santa Ana.
Against Irvine Valley, WNCC was facing a team that made last year's state playoffs and has received votes in this year's state poll. It also faced Jeff Kaplan, who WNCC coach D.J. Whittemore said was the toughest pitcher the Wildcats have faced this year.
Ten professional scouts were at the game to watch Kaplan, who allowed just one hit and struck out nine over six innings. WNCC had just two hits, one from Brett Mosher and the other from Pat Grennan.
Starting pitcher Josh Brink was touched for three runs before giving way to Chad Riddle, who pitched well, allowing three runs before giving way to Jake Bottari in the seventh. Bottari also pitched well, allowing no runs.
WNCC has been playing with aluminum bats this weekend after using woodbats to open the season and while that could have been considered to be an advantage for the Wildcats, they actually struggled to make the adjustment.
WNCC didn't score a run through their first 19 innings this weekend in Southern California. "The aluminum bat strike zone has given us some difficulties," Whittemore said.
But WNCC broke out against Santa Ana, scoring four runs in the second inning and four runs in the sixth and finished with 11 hits.
Mason Tobin was the winning pitcher, allowing one run on three hits. Ryan Iodence allowed one run on two hits over three innings and T.J. Wohlever allowed no hits in pitching a scoreless ninth.
Kyle Bondurant had a two-run single to spark a four-run second. Henry's two-run single came in the sixth as WNCC took an 8-1 lead.
In its previous two games, Santa Ana had scored 23 and 10 runs. "To hold them to two runs was pretty good pitching," Whittemore said. "That's a very quality program. That was a real big win for us.
"We played great defense." Whittemore said Thomas Miller played outstanding defense at first and that shortstop Jerahmie Libke and second baseman Bondurant also played flawless defense.
Humberto Rodarte and Chadd Dudley were each 2-for-3, Douglas High's Jimmy Pierce was 1-for-1 and Grennan, Libke and Miller all added a hit.
WNCC will conclude its Southern California tour at 10 a.m. today against Orange Coast, ranked No. 6 in California, in Costa Mesa. The Wildcats has saved two of its best pitchers as Cole Rohrbough will start and Stephen Sauer will be used in relief.