Brad Horn/Nevada Appeal
The Western Nevada Wildcats were excited in the dugout when Jay Skilton hit the first pitch of the bottom of the sixth inning over the left field fence to pull into a tie with Central Arizona in the championship game of the 2009 NJCAA Western District baseball tournament.
They were downright delirious just eight minutes later.
Jerome Pena blasted a three-run home run to provide what turned out to be the winning margin as Western Nevada College defeated Central Arizona 10-7 Saturday afternoon at John L. Harvey Field.
Western Nevada advances to the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., where they will play Howard College of Big Spring, Texas, Saturday at 10 a.m.
"(Travis) Feiner said sit on a slider, and I'm sitting on a slider, put a good swing on the ball and just put my hand in the air," Pena said of his blast that capped a five-run outburst and put WNC ahead 10-6 in the bottom of the sixth inning. "I was so excited, I almost passed out in the dugout. It was the most amazing feeling ever."
It was a feeling the Wildcats experienced twice, starting with Skilton's solo shot leading off the sixth that tied the game 6-6.
"I thought that was as good as I could feel until I saw Pena's ball go over," WNC coach D.J. Whittemore said.
"Jay came up big to tie the ballgame, oh my gosh, that's what got us going," Pena said. "That's what added fuel to the fire."
The Wildcats came back to win after trailing 5-2 and 6-4.
Central Arizona treated Western Nevada starter Josh Moody rudely with three home runs of their own to build that 5-2 lead in the fourth inning. Nate Valdez hit a two-run shot in the second inning, Kenny Held hit another in the third, then Bryan Karraker hit a solo homer in the fourth.
Western Nevada scored twice in the fourth to get within 5-4 and once in the fifth and trailed 6-5.
That's when Whittemore decided to go for broke and bring Kyle Starratt to pitch in relief. Starratt would likely have started the second game had Central Arizona won and forced the if-necessary game, but Whittemore decided to roll the dice and try to make the second game a moot point.
"I just had so much confident in our offense that if we kept it close, we'd win," Whittemore said. "Being in the fifth inning, down a run with Starratt on the mound, we're in pretty good shape right there, especially with (Kramer) Champlin to back him up."
Starratt overcame a bout of wildness to make the strategy pay off. Starratt walked two batters, with a sacrifice bunt in between, but got Xorge Carrillo to ground into a double play to end the sixth.
"I was just trying to get us up to the plate," Starratt said. "The only way I could do that is just get people out."
After being handed a lead, Starratt got through the seventh unscathed, but after Valdez walked and Karraker singled to start the eighth, Whittemore called on Champlin.
Like Starratt did, Champlin induced a double play grounder to kill the rally.
Carrillo led off the ninth with a solo home run for Central Arizona, which then put two runners on base with one out via a hit batter and a walk to bring the tying run to the plate, but Champlin struck out Marcus Bradley and got Valdez to fly to right to end the game.
"It's amazing," Pena said. "It's what we've worked for since Aug. 10. I mean, we deserve this. We put so much work, so much effort, so much sweat, everything, into this season."
While his players congratulated one another and shared the moment with family and friends, Whittemore wandered off for some alone time before addressing his team.
"I lost my grandpa this year," Whittemore said. "My grandpa was from Grand Junction. He got to go last time we went and I wanted to get back there for him."
This will be Western Nevada's second trip to the NJCAA World Series in three years. The program has existed just four seasons, and the Wildcats will be joining a group of teams in Grand Junction with deep traditions.
"Central Arizona is just a mammoth of a program," Whittemore said. "They've been to more World Series than we've played years, so to beat them, it's surreal and just awesome.
"We're playing the best teams in the country and you've got to win five games to be the champs, so besides playing good, we're going to have to be lucky," he added. "We're going to play the happy to be here card. We're the new guys and we like being underdogs, so we relish that role."