Despite the loss, the Cougars still will compete in the district playoffs as two teams from Region IX qualified for regionals. Districts open up Thursday in Lamar and WNCC will face College of Southern Nevada and projected No. 1 draft choice in next month's major league baseball draft Bryce Harper.
"We are back down there next week and we will play Thursday afternoon and we will be playing Southern Nevada, who won Region I8. It is OK," WNCC coach Mike Jones said. "We didn't win a regional championship, but we are still have a chance at a district championship. It is important to keep our heads held high and go after this district championship."
Even with the loss, Jones said his team played well as Armani Gonzalez gave another gallant effort on the mound, going seven innings and allowing six hits while striking out two.
"We played really well. Armani was really good," Jones said. "He has really picked it up in the last two weeks and pitched really well for us and shown a lot of leadership. He is a guy that is out there every single inning to win. I wish we could have got him some runs and got him the win today. Unfortunately we couldn't come up with the big hits when we needed them."
The Cougars had opportunities to score as well. Their biggest threat came in the fourth when they had runners at second and third with just one out, but couldn't get the run across to tie the game. WNCC had another prime scoring opportunity in the sixth after Jason Sloan led off with a double, but was left stranded on base.
Jones said that they need to cash in on those scoring opportunities.
"We have runners at second and third with one out and unfortunately we strike out and pop up," Jones said. "Then, Jason Sloan leads off with a double later in the game and gives an opportunity to score a run, but we just can't back it up behind him. We had our opportunities, not a lot of them, but we had opportunities where we could have gotten some runs on the board, but we just couldn't come up with the big hit."
WNCC managed just four hits in the contest, including doubles by Sloan and Elvis Garcia. The other two hits came from Nelson Quintero and Oscar Rodriquez.
Jones said that even though they didn't win the regional tournament, they still have a change to be district champs and qualify for the NJCAA College World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., the end of the month.
Districts, however, won't be easy as Lamar, Southern Nevada, and Central Arizona College will take to the fields in Lamar next weekend along with WNCC. Jones said that all four teams are good and anybody can win it. But, for the Cougars to win it, they will need to play well both offensively and defensively, especially since they will be swinging aluminum bats instead of wood bats they swung during Region IX play.
"Southern Nevada is going to be really good. Central Arizona won out of Region I and they will also be really good. We know Lamar is good, but we are a good team also," Jones said. "We are a good baseball team. We need to take advantage of our scoring opportunities and when we pick up the aluminum bats during this district, maybe we will be able to capitalize on some of those opportunities."
Lamar (47-10) 010 010 00x -- 2 6 2
LP -- Armani Gonzalez; 2B -- Jason Sloan, Elvis Garcia.
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