Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal
If pitching depth is the key to winning the Region XVIII baseball tournament, then Western Nevada proved Thursday that it still has plenty of firepower left.
David Carroll went seven complete innings and the Wildcats bats provided him with plenty of run support in their 12-3, seven-inning victory over fifth-seeded Eastern Utah in the second round of the tournament at John L. Harvey Field.
The top-seeded Wildcats will play No. 3 Southern Idaho today at 10 in a semifinal game. Southern Idaho edged Southern Nevada 3-2.
"We've got all of our arms left, we can go a long ways now," said WNC third baseman Travis Feiner.
The only three runs scored against WNC, all of which were unearned, came in the first inning.
Chad Himmer struck out, but the ball got loose and he reached first safely to load the bases. Mitch Moore then doubled to left to clear the bases for an early 3-0 lead.
"I told him to make sure we're living in the moment," WNC coach D.J. Whittemore said regarding the mound visit he had with Carroll when he started the game off throwing 29 pitches in the first inning.
"I said, we might score eight runs today, we might score 10, but we might only score four and the bottom line is you've got a good hitter in the box and not as good a hitter on deck, so you've got a base open so if need it, use it and he said, 'I just need to get in a rhythm here and everybody's talking to me.'"
After that, though, Carroll regained control. Sporting a freshly grown tournament goatee, Carroll threw just 30 pitches in the next four innings. He finished with six strikeouts in the game and just four hits.
Both Lance Ray (1-for-4) and Brian Barnett (0-for-3), the Wildcats' top two hitters, struggled from the plate, but were picked by the rest of the lineup on their way to a 15-hit game.
Mike Long went 3-for-4 from the plate with three runs.
"Hitters go 0-for-3 even if they're Manny Ramirez," Whittemore said referring to the Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder. "Brian Barnett is probably the equivalent in the Scenic West. We've rode his coat tales quite a bunch so it's fine for him to hop on everybody elses once in awhile."
Feiner had the biggest day of the Wildcats, going 2-for-5 with five RBIs. The sophomore got the Wildcats on the board first with a two-RBI double in the bottom of the first. The Wildcats tied the game on the next at bat when Long singled in Feiner.
They got the lead two-run fourth before Feiner broke the game open for good in the fifth with a three-run homer to left.
"He threw me a lot of curveball so I kind of had a hint it was coming," Feiner said of the pitch he hit the homer off of.
The Wildcats scored five runs in the inning and missed the chance for more, leaving the bases loaded.
WNC will now get a Southern Idaho team that has defeated seven times in eight tries this season. Its only loss to the Golden Eagles was at home on April 18 in a 5-1 game.
The Wildcats need to win today not only to ensure their place in the title game, but to get a spot in the district tournament which begins March 14. The winner of the regional tourney will host the district tournament.
Southern Idaho 3, Southern Nevada 2
Southern Idaho overcame an error in the eighth inning that led to the game-tying run, to win the game in bottom half of the inning on a Trent Johnson RBI-single to beat Southern Nevada and move on to the semifinal game of tournament.
Tyler Chism went 3-for-4 with an RBI and the game-winning run. He also got final out of the game when he relieved Tyler Curtis.
Curtis picked up the win. Egan Smith took the loss for CSN in a complete-game performance. He struck out eight and allowed seven hits.
Salt Lake 8, Eastern Utah 0
The Bruins avenged a loss to Eastern Utah the day before that sent them to the loser's bracket with Stephen Nelson's 10th inning home run that came just minutes before the game would have been suspended due to darkness.
Nelson went 5-for-6 on the day.
Salt Lake will Southern Nevada at 1 p.m. today.