The showdown: WNCC vs. CCSN

Western Nevada Community College baseball coach D.J. Whittemore couldn't have said it any better.

"This is going to be fun," Whittemore said.

Whittemore was referring to next week's Scenic West Athletic Conference postseason championship series between his team and Community College of Southern Nevada. WNCC advanced to the series with a 6-0 win over Colorado Northwestern Community College on Friday at College of Southern Idaho while CCSN advanced with a 6-1 win over College of Eastern Utah.

WNCC will play at CCSN in a best two of three series next Thursday, Friday and Saturday if necessary. All of the games will begin at 6 p.m.

The Wildcats ended up playing Colorado Northwestern after the Spartans stunned Southern Idaho earlier in the day, beating the Golden Eagles 10-7. If not for two errors made behind him, Justin Garcia would have been perfect for WNCC against the Spartans, striking out eight and walking none while giving up no hits through six innings.

Even though Garcia had a no-hitter going, WNCC needed to pull him to give some work to its bullpen.

"We had to take him out of the game because we had to get our bullpen some work for next week," Whittemore said. "He's a selfless player. He knew it was in the best interest of the team to our our relievers some work.

"He really had a good breaking ball and great command of his fastball like always. He just attacked the strike zone. Their at bats did not look comfortable."

Through 27 innings in three games over two days, WNCC pitching allowed no runs on just six hits. The Wildcats also had 30 hits in the three games, picking up 10 hits in each game.

Garcia, Jeremy Joustra, T.J. Wohlever and Stephen Sauer ended up combining on a one-hitter. Joustra didn't allow a hit in the seventh.

Wohlever was greeted by a drag bunt that ended up as an error in the eighth inning. He then allowed a single to give the Spartans runners at first and second with no outs.

But catcher Taylor Mieras picked off the runner at second and Wohlever struck out the next two batters. Sauer retired the side in order in the ninth, striking out one.

WNCC took a 1-0 lead in the second when Grennan singled and scored on Mieras' double. In the fourth, Thomas Miller and Mieras singled and Logan Parsley was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Bondurant hit a two-run single to make it 3-0.

In the fifth, Cliff Shepard doubled and after Andrew Reid was hit by a pitch, Brad Carlsen moved both runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Grennan followed with a two-out, two-run single.

After Grennan stole second, Mieras followed with an RBI single that made it 6-0. Mieras was 3-for-4 and Bondurant, Grennan and Shepard all had two hits.

"We love playing those guys," said Whittemore about CCSN, which is ranked No. 16 in the nation. "Their one of the best junior college baseball teams in the country. All the way around it's going to be an uphill battle for us."