Western Nevada pulls off sweep in home opener

Western Nevada Community College brought college baseball to the Capital City with a bang Friday, taking both ends of a doubleheader from the Spartans of Colorado Northwestern, 6-0 and 4-0, at Ron McNutt Field at Carson High.

On the kind of day with clear blue skies that Ernie Banks might have been talking about when he said "Let's play two!,'" the Wildcats used a formula of efficient pitching, good defense and timely hitting to hand their Scenic West conference foe the back-to-back shutouts.

Justin Garcia, of Sierra Vista High School in Las Vegas, started game one and was a model of efficiency. Garcia threw just four pitches in the first inning, faced the minimum number of batters through two innings and never faced more than four batters in an inning as he cruised through the Spartan line-up. Garcia allowed five base runners, but only one reached second base as he gave up three hits, walked one and hit one batsman while fanning six.

Western Nevada scored all the runs it needed in the bottom of the second and showed that this team can manufacture runs or score the old fashioned way. The Wildcats took advantage of two Spartan errors to push two runs across before Kyle Bondurant lined a double into the left field corner, scoring Taylor Mieras from third. Brad Carlsen's single to right scored Bondurant for a 4-0 lead.

The Wildcats scored again in the fifth as Brett Mosher stole home on a successful delayed steal.

Western Nevada coach D.J. Whittemore was pleased with the way his team executed.

"I'm very glad that we played well in front of our first home crowd," he said. "Our game plan was to make them string three hits together. Justin has been pitching very well so far. We've only given up eight runs in five starts for him. He works quickly and throws strikes. That helps the defense behind him."

In the second game, Mason Tobin of Kentridge High School in Kent, Wash, looked just as good as Garcia, throwing four scoreless innings and striking out four Colorado Northwestern batters. Tobin surrendered three hits and walked one.

The Spartans held Western Nevada in check until Thomas Miller of Las Vegas hit his second home run of the year, a towering shot over the left field fence, in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Western Nevada scored three more runs in the fifth. Humberto Rodarte led off with a single and advanced on Carson High's Aaron Henry's sacrifice bunt. Rodarte scored when Pat Grennan's hard grounder got booted by the Spartan second baseman and rolled into short right. Grennan came around to score on Jerahmie Libke's single as a wild throw from right got past the third baseman. Libke, who advanced to second on the throwing error, moved to third on a past ball and scored on a sacrifice fly from Bondurant.

Daniel Grubbs, of McQueen High, pitched the sixth for Western Nevada, giving up one hit while striking out one. Chad Riddle, Garcia's teammate at Sierra Vista last year, finished up for the Wildcats with a hitless seventh, striking out one and hitting one.

" We played to our strengths today and that's why we were successful," Wittemore said. "I'm very thankful that Athletic Director Ron McNutt and the administration of Carson High let us use this facility today while our own field is getting ready."

Wittemore said that he hopes John L. Harvey Field at Western Nevada Community College will be ready for the Wildcats' homestand against Scenic West conference leader Dixie State College beginning April 7.

With the two wins, Western Nevada evens its record at 9-9, 3-3. The Wildcats will host Colorado Northwestern in another double-header today at Ron McNutt Field starting at noon.