WNCC baseball impressive in all-star series

Eleven players for the Western Nevada Community College baseball team had an impressive weekend in the Scenic West Athletic Conference all-star series in Salt Lake City.

The series was designed to be a showcase for college coaches and pro scouts. WNCC's six position players combined for 11 of the 27 hits that both teams had in the two games. The South comprised of the Wildcats, Community College of Southern Nevada and Eastern Utah, took on the North, comprised of Southern Idaho, Salt Lake and Colorado Northwestern. WNCC's Ryan Simpson had the game-winning hit in the South's 9-8 win on Friday while the North won 5-4 on Saturday.

Kyle Bondurant had four hits, the second highest total for the weekend. Pat Grennan had three hits, Thomas Miller had two hits, Taylor Meiras had a hit and an RBI and Brad Carlsen walked three times.

WNCC's five pitcher were just as impressive. Justin Garcia threw two scoreless innings. "Garcia threw very well," Wildcat coach D.J. Whittemore said.

Stephen Sauer also threw two scoreless innings. "Sauer threw extremely well," Whittemore said. "He was really impressive. I think his stock rose quite a bit."

Cole Rohrbough threw one scoreless inning, hitting 93 miles an hour on his fastball. "Rorhbough was the talk of the game," Whittemore said.

Dan Grubbs allowed one uneared run in two innings. Josh Brink pitched a scoreless inning before being touched for two earned runs in his second inning.

On Friday, the South led 6-2 before the North scored six runs in the eighth inning to take an 8-6 lead. But in the ninth, Bondurant and Meiras each walked to begin a three-run rally, which was capped by Simpson's RBI single that gave the South a 9-8 lead.

"It was a great (weekend) four our program," Whittemore said. "It really helped put us on the map as far as Division I coaches in the Western United States. The players had a lot of fun."