WNCC continues magic ride in tournament

As a first-year program comprised mostly of players who were recruited sight unseen, the Western Nevada Community College Wildcats headed off into their inaugural year in the Scenic West Athletic Conference without fanfare or public expectations.

Each game was to be a journey into uncharted waters with no destination in sight other than the will to win the game in front of them and to prepare for the following one.

WNCC coach D.J. Whittemore admitted wondering when his team would win its first game.

He wasn't left wondering long as the Wildcats won their first two games, knocking off Glendale Community College and the Community College of Southern Nevada, the 2003 National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association Division I champions.

Fast-forward 50 games and the Wildcats - ranked No. 20 by the NJCAA with a 36-16 record - are now the SWAC regular season champions, following their dramatic 4-3 victory over No. 14 College of Southern Idaho on Saturday at John L. Harvey Field.

Finishing first entitles the Wildcats to host the six-team, double-elimination format SWAC Tournament (also known as the Region 18 Tournament), which begins today at 2 p.m., with Salt Lake Community College taking on the College of Eastern Utah.

As regular season champions, the Wildcats drew a first-round bye and will face the winner of SLCC-CEU Thursday at 5 p.m.

CCSN will meet CSI at 5 p.m. today, with the winner to meet No. 2 seed Dixie State at 11 a.m. on Thursday.

The winner of the SWAC Tournament will host the three-team Western District Tournament, which features the champions from Regions 18, 1 (Arizona and California) and 9 (teams east of the Continental Divide, including those from Colorado, Eastern Montana, Nebraska and Wyoming).

The Western District Tournament champion will go on to the 10-team NJCAA World Series, in Grand Junction, Colo., May 27-June 3.

That the Wildcats, of whom all but three players are freshmen, are even in the mix with the upper crust of Division I juco teams is an anomaly.

"It's going to take some time - it will take all summer to sink in," said Whittemore on Saturday, after he'd changed uniforms after a taking an unexpected Gatorade bath.

If this were a first-year Division I baseball team in similar circumstances - winning a championship with nearly all freshmen, nearly all of them recruited sight unseen - it would have already been splashed on the cover of Sports Illustrated and had its story told and retold on ESPN.

But forget talks of World Series, Western District Tournaments and other grandiose matters when talking to Whittemore.

"We're going to take a night to take it all in, then we're going to wake up (Sunday) and - like the other five teams - try and find a way to win," Whittemore said.

And finding a way to win has been something the Wildcats have done all season in all kinds of circumstances.

With John L. Harvey Field still under construction and Northern Nevada baseball fields buried under snow or drenched with rain, the Wildcats were forced to learn how to win on the road from Jan. 27-Feb. 18.

Beginning with a Feb. 12 victory over El Paso Community College, the Wildcats began an eight-game win streak, including four (three by forfeit) over CCSN.

Playing at Ron McNutt Field at Carson High School, the Wildcats won what amounted to be their first four home games against Colorado Northwestern Community College before meeting powerhouse Dixie College, in St. George, Utah.

Even though the Rebels are on their way up to Division II baseball next season, WNCC still managed a split with them and returned home to take a pair of games from SLCC after dropping the first two.

And it was this series against SLCC that WNCC's players were a different breed of cat.

After dropping its first doubleheader to the Bruins, 2-0 and 4-1, on March 17, WNCC showed it had some pitchers and gamers as well.

Trailing 1-0 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, left fielder Pat Grennan knocked in pinch runner Douglas High's Jimmy Pierce and 2004 CHS graduate Aaron Henry for the win.

The next day it was Josh Brink, Ryan Iodence and Stephen Sauer combining for a three-hit shutout and a 1-0 win. And suddenly WNCC was a first-place contender.

A four-game sweep over CEU and a split with CSI was nearly obscured when Dixie State took three of four from the Wildcats at McNutt Field. All WNCC needed to do from there to win the SWAC regular season championship was win 11 in a row.

And the Wildcats did exactly that, one game at a time.

After sweeping Colorado Northwestern Community College at McNutt Field, the Wildcats finally got to play on their own turf - the FieldTurf at the newly opened John L. Harvey Field.

Following its 6-3 victory over CEU in the opener, WNCC erased a 5-0 deficit on an RBI-single by third baseman Tyson Jaquez, a bases loaded triple by first baseman Tom Miller and a two-run single by designated hitter Brett Mosher for the 6-5 win.

Behind the leadership of Miller - who castigated his teammates for trailing both games - the Wildcats rallied for another sweep the next day, setting up the final weekend series with No. 14 CSI.

After taking the first game 5-1, WNCC was locked in a scoreless tie with CSI. With two down in the bottom of the sixth, Miller hit a 400-foot blast over the left-field wall for the first-ever Wildcat homer at its own field.

Miller followed up his homer with an incredible leaping grab from first to save a run, catcher Taylor Meiras had a throwout to second and Dan Grubbs finished with a strikeout, and the Wildcats needed to only win one of its final two games against the Golden Eagles for the championship.

So, trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning of game one against a CSI team that was 23-3 after scoring first, Jaquez drove in a runner and Brad Carlsen banged in a two-run single that scored pinch runner Henry and the 5-foot-11, 230-pound Jaquez for the game-winning run.

"It's our no-quit attitude," Jaquez said of his team's resilience. "Unless there's three out in the bottom of the seventh, then we just keep going. We're never going to stop until the fat lady sings or we've won."

Jaquez, who signed to play with the University of Nevada next season, said nobody was ready to jump ship with the team losing and going into the last inning.

"There was no doubts," he said. "For some reason, everyone in the dugout knew what was going to happen. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that we were going to win."

Second baseman Kyle Bondurant agreed with Jaquez.

"There's no quit in us," he said. "We fight down to the last out every game."

So now the Wildcats have entered the land of the absurd and are once again in the position of proving they can do something nobody else thought they could do.

"Absolutely," said Bondurant without hesitation when asked if his team had a chance. "We've proved we can beat every team in our conference. There's no reason we can't do it. We're in the game for every pitch until we hear that fat lady sing."

Whittemore, who was an assistant coach for the Wooster Colts when they shook up all of Nevada by winning the state championship in 2002 after overcoming a 7-2 deficit, said this team reminds him of the miracle Colts.

His throat tightened noticeably as he spoke of this team - this group of overachievers that has taken the SWAC and the community by storm - and how he has barely seen his 4 1/2-month old daughter this season.

And true to form, Whittemore wasn't about to make any predictions or look ahead to a tournament championship. If pressed, all he would do is say what has become a familiar refrain for the Wildcats: "Play hard, play smart, play together."

And that's all they've done. Nobody could or should ask for more. They've already brought their school and city a title. Anything else would be ridiculous.

But, most certainly, not unwelcome.

SCHEDULE

(Six-team, double-elimination format)

Today

Game 1: Salt Lake CC vs. College of Eastern Utah, 2 p.m.

Game 2: College of Southern Idaho vs. CC Southern Nevada, 5 p.m.

Thursday

Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 8 a.m.

Game 4: Dixie State vs. CSI-CSNN winner, 11 a.m.

Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 2 p.m.

Game 6: WNCC vs. Winner SLCC-CEU (Game 1), 5 p.m.

Friday

Game 7: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser WNCC-CEU (Game 6), 10 a.m.

Game 8: Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 4, 1 p.m.

Game 9: Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8, 4 p.m.

Saturday

Game 10: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9, noon

Game 11: Winner vs. Loser Game 10, if necessary, 3 p.m.