Baseball: WNC wraps up regular season in second place

The Western Nevada College baseball team wrapped up the 2010 regular season with a sweep of Colorado Northwestern Community College over the weekend, finishing second in the Scenic West Athletic Conference. The Wildcats also earned a first round bye in this week's Region 18 Championship tournament in Henderson that begins Wednesday.

WNC will play Thursday at 4 p.m., likely against either Salt Lake Community College or College of Southern Idaho. College of Southern Nevada won the league title after a back and forth battle against WNC and Salt Lake Community College, which finished one game behind WNC. CSI finished fourth.

WNC brings in a 40-15 record, 28-12 in the SWAC, and a No. 10 national ranking in the most recent NJCAA poll. CSN ended the season ranked fourth with a 43-13 (30-10) record.

In Saturday's doubleheader, the Wildcats won 4-1 and 8-3, collecting seven hits in each outing. Head Coach DJ Whittemore also spread the pitching between seven players in the final home stand, with sophomores Jake Waardenburg and David Carroll earning the wins.

In game one, WNC leadoff batter Kevin Taylor doubled and Brooks Klein hit a two RBI double to score Taylor and Spencer Ofelt, who had walked, to give the Wildcats a quick 2-0 lead. Ofelt returned the favor in the second inning, smacking an RBI single, to score Taylor and make it 3-0.

CNCC collected its only run in the fourth inning on two hits and a WNC catching error. The Wildcats answered in the sixth inning when Jay Skilton singled and Ofelt scored him on a double for the final score, 4-1.

In game two, WNC scored two unearned runs in the first inning for 2-0 lead, but CNCC came back to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the second off three hits and a Wildcats fielding error. Both teams were held scoreless in the third inning, and then WNC found the bats in the fourth.

Two Wildcat walks set up designated hitter Taylor and he responded with a two-run double to reclaim the lead. Taylor then came home on a single by shortstop Skilton, who hit 2 of 3 to make it 5-3.

The Wildcats had another productive inning in the fifth, scoring three runs on four hits, and capitalizing on two Spartan errors. Ofelt singled to start the inning, advanced on a sacrifice grounder by first baseman Eric Maupin, and later scored unearned. Centerfielder Trevor Goff tripled, scoring catcher Chris Sinclair and right-fielder Colby Sokol for the final score.