Not long after a sweep of College of Eastern Utah, the Western Nevada College baseball team accepted the reality it will be going on the road.
"It's much better if it was home but you play the cards that they've dealt," WNC pitcher Josh Creveling said.
The Wildcats completed a four-game sweep against Eastern Utah on Saturday at John L. Harvey Field. WNC swept the doubleheader, winning the opener 5-0 behind Kyle Farrell and the nightcap 8-2.
But College of Southern Nevada also completed a four-game sweep at College of Southern Idaho to clinch the Scenic West Athletic Conference regular season title. CSN swept a doubleheader on Saturday, winning the opener 7-0 and the nightcap 6-0.
CSN finished 30-10 in the SWAC to beat out WNC (29-11 in the SWAC, 35-18 overall) for the title by one game.
"When you get 40 games you're going to find the best team," WNC coach D.J. Whittemore said. "They're the best team."
So the postseason tournament will be hosted next week by CSN in Henderson. The winner will advance to the district tournament to be played in Arizona for the right to play in the JUCO World Series.
It should be noted that the past six regular season champions have failed to win the postseason title. WNC will also receive a first round bye in the event, which begins Wednesday.
But the bad news is the Wildcats will likely face arguably the conference's best pitcher in Adam Gunn and Salt Lake Community College when they open play in the double elimination tournament at 1 p.m. Thursday. In two meetings against Gunn this year, WNC has lost 2-1 and won 1-0.
In the opener against Eastern Utah, Farrell struck out five and allowed just one hit over five innings.
Brian Barnett continued his hot hitting, going 4-for-4 on the day - 2-for-2 in both games. In the opener, he led off the first with a double and scored on Jerome Pena's RBI sacrifice fly.
After Kyle Gutchewsky doubled in the third, Barnett followed with a two-run home run. It was Barnett's 10th home run of the season and his ninth in SWAC play.
"I felt real short and quick," Barnett said. "I didn't want to do too much. I just wanted to keep my swing nice and short and compact. I felt real comfortable."
WNC went back-to-back in the inning as Lance Ray followed Barnett by hitting a homer off the scoreboard in right center field. WNC finished regular season SWAC play with 21 home runs.
After Ray homered, Pena doubled and scored on Marshall Kennebrew's double to make it 5-0.
Chuck Howard, Mike Long and Kevin Schlange all added a hit for WNC. Javy Perez retired the side in order in the sixth, striking out two, and Matt Klein retired the side in order in the seventh, striking out two.
In the nightcap, Creveling pitched four scoreless innings, striking out three. Barnett again led off the first with a double and scored on Logan Parsley's RBI single.
Jordon Blanchard pitched a scoreless fifth, but was pulled after allowing Colby Read's two-out double in the sixth. Jose Barajas came on and after walking Kaid Gordon, allowed Matt Park's bloop RBI single.
Barajas then struck out Pete Mirabile on a pitch in the dirt. Howard blocked the pitched, but the ball rolled all the way to WNC's dugout, allowing Gordon to score, giving Eastern Utah a 2-1 lead. Barajas got a strikeout to end the inning.
WNC then exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth. Travis Feiner led off with a walk and after Chuck Howard singled and Andrew Reid walked, Gutchewsky hit a two-run single.
Pena and Parsley went on to hit two-run singles and Cliff Shepard had an RBI single during the rally to make it 8-2.
Barajas pitched the last inning and a third, striking out four. Shepard and Gutchewsky both added a double giving them two hits and Parsley had two hits.
Note: On Gutchewsky's two-run single, WNC had a moment similar to that of the 2002 World Series when the son of then-San Francisco Giants manager Dusty Baker, Darren, went to retrieve the bat before the play was over and was saved by J.T. Snow. Whittemore's son, George, went to retrieve the bat before the play was over, but was never really in harm's way and coach Whittemore could joke about what happened afterward. "He couldn't get anybody to tell him to go, so he went on his own direction," Coach Whittemore said.