Wildcats baseball wins big

Wildcats baseball wins big

Appeal Staff Report

The Western Nevada College Wildcats won their fourth game in a row, blasting Delta College, 17-4, Sunday in Stockton, Calif.

The Wildcats produced what is to be believed a school-record 20 hits against the Mustangs, who fell to 8-4 on the season.

"It was our best day of the year," said WNC coach D.J. Whittemore, whose team improved to 6-7 on the season.

Freshmen Lance Ray and Jose Pena each hit his first home run for the Wildcats.

Pena, who finished 3-for-5, hit his two-run shot in the seventh inning, to give WNC a 12-4 lead.

Ray's solo shot came in a five-run eighth inning, which rounded out the Wildcats' scoring.

Ray finished 4-for-5.

Sophomore Kyle Gutchewsky also went 4-for-5, adding a pair of doubles to Western Nevada's offensive explosion.

Instead of their usual wood bats, the Wildcats have played with aluminum bats their last two games and have scored a collective 34 runs in that span.

"We asked our guys to play every pitch," Whittemore said of his team's approach. "We played defense - we didn't have any errors. And we got the ball in play when we had two strikes.

"The best thing about today is we worked ourselves into positive counts and took advantage of them."

Starter Kyle Farrell improved to 3-0 on the season, pitching 42Ú3 of innings of three-hit ball. He allowed two earned runs and three walks, striking out one.

Reliever Josh Moody - who had been a starter the last three weeks - came out of the bullpen for 21Ú3 innings of three-hit ball. He allowed two earned runs and one walk, striking out four.

Jose Barajas allowed one hit in pitching a scoreless eighth and ninth.

The Wildcats will look to keep hot against Feather River Community College, when they travel to Quincy, Calif., to play the Golden Eagles for a three-game set beginning Thursday or Friday, depending on the weather.