RIVERSIDE, Calif. " Six runs and 34 strikeouts. That about sums up Western Nevada's dismal offensive performance in a three-game sweep at the hands of Riverside Community College.
Western Nevada lost 6-2 on Friday and then followed that up with a 10-3 loss in the completion of a suspended game against Riverside, which has won four of the last eight state tournaments. The Wildcats are 2-5 and off until Thursday when they play American River of Sacramento.
"It was a miserable offensive performance," WNC coach D.J. Whittemore. "Our hands are tied (regarding changes). We only have 11 healthy position players and you have to have nine to play. There aren't a lot of moves we can make.
"The sore spot right now is our offensive output. We're striking out. Obviously as a coach I'm doing a poor job of preparing the guys."
Riverside scored all of its runs it needed in the bottom of the second, five coming against starter/loser Rusty Devitt and one against reliever Kyle DiMartino, a bounce-back from the University of Nevada.
WNC didn't help itself when it committed a one-out error with the bases loaded on a potential inning-ending groundball. Riverside collected three hits and three walks in the big inning.
The Wildcats, who were held to just three hits, scored both of their runs in the sixth when Brian Barnett reached on an error and scored on Lance Ray's two-run homer.
WNC ace Kyle Starratt had another rough outing, allowing eight runs, six earned in 2-plus innings of the suspended game. Josh Moody came in and stabilized the game with 3.2 innings of scoreless relief.
WNC managed five hits " Ray, Travis Feiner, Corey Raymond, Mike Skiles and Barnett - all had one each. Feiner and Ray drove in a run each.