Baseball: Western Nevada picks up two wins

Western Nevada College's baseball team finished strong in a doubleheader against Pima Community College of Tucson, played at UNLV over the weekend. The Wildcats won 5-3 and 5-2, improving to 4-2 on the season. What was originally scheduled as a four-game series was shortened due to rain, a rare commodity in southern Nevada.

WNC was solid on the mound and corrected some of the mistakes of their opening weekend. "I was really happy with the way we pitched and was very surprised at how well our defense played," Coach DJ Whittemore said today. "To allow only one error in two games is outstanding." Offensively, the team made progress toward their objectives. "We cut down on strikeouts and the number of runners left on base," he said.

WNC started the day with 6'3" right-hander Jake Waardenburg on the mound. He threw 6.1 innings, allowing only one run off five hits. Closer Kramer Champlin allowed three hits but no runs in 2.2 innings. The Wildcats offense tallied nine hits, led by third baseman Andrew Garcia who was 2-3 at the plate with two runs scored, and second baseman Jay Skilton, who hit 2-4 and scored one run.

In the nightcap, the Wildcats held Pima to five hits off the pitching of freshman Tim Peterson, who struck out four and gave up only one run in 6.1 innings. Closer Jeff Barto allowed one hit and one run in 2.2 innings, with four strikeouts. WNC's offense was led by left fielder Kyle Conwell, who hit 3-3 with two RBI and scored one run, and shortstop Skilton, who hit 3-4 with one RBI and two runs scored.

First baseman Eric Maupin hit an RBI single in the bottom of the third inning to score Skilton for a 1-0 Wildcats lead. Centerfielder Trevor Goff's single in the bottom of the fifth inning started WNC's most productive stretch, with four runs scored on three hits, to pull ahead of Pima, 5-0. The Aztecs scored one run each in the bottom of the sixth and ninth innings.

Western Nevada returns to Las Vegas this weekend for a four-game series against Arizona Western College.