Western District Baseball: Central Arizona and Western Nevada bring solid pitching to Cleveland Field

Western District Baseball Tournament
Thursday's Schedule (with pitching matchups)
1 p.m. -- Western Nebraska (Orta) vs. Central Arizona (Spence)
4 p.m. -- Central Arizona (Anson) vs. Western Nevada (Rohrbough)
7 p.m. -- Western Nevada (Garcia) vs. Western Nebraska (Cuadra)
Friday's Schedule (depending on Thursday's action) is at 7 p.m.
Saturday's if necessary game is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Central Arizona College enters the NJCAA Western District baseball tournament will a lot of tradition behind them, including a national championship.

The two WNCC ball clubs – Western Nebraska Community College and Western Nevada Community College – are on the opposite end, with both winning their first regional championship this year.

CAC coach John Wente said while they have won the national tournament before – in 2002 – and six regional titles, but this is actually they have competed in the 3-team district playoff format.

“I think we have to be one of the top junior college baseball programs and we have been very fortunate with some great players,” Wente said. “We [as a school] have been through this before. The kids haven’t obviously, but as a coaching staff we know what this is about. It definitely is not easy and we respect the teams that are here. It is always tough to go on the road and play at someone else’s house. That is a challenge, but it is a challenge that our program needed to make because the last couple of years we missed the playoffs, and it is a challenge to get our program back.”

Western Nevada coach D.J. Whittemore is just building the Wildcat program. This is the second year of baseball at WNCC and they are just glad to be playing for a Junior College World Series berth.

“Central Arizona has one of the best resumes of any team in the country. They have a great history and our program in just in the early stages,” he said. “We are really excited to be here and see how we match up with a couple of the nation’s powerhouses.”

Both teams bring fundamentally sound teams to Cleveland Field today for the round-robin format tournament. Central Arizona, 42-19, open against Western Nebraska at 1 p.m. and then play Western Nevada at 4 p.m. Western Nevada, 36-22-2, will also play Western Nebraska at 7 p.m.

Both coaches see pitching as a key in picking up a district tournament. “Our pitching staff is our strength,” Whittemore said. “We have good starting pitching and we have good depth in our bull pen. We really rely on our pitching and we play good defense behind them.

“In a 9-inning game, you need a good bullpen. We are used to playing 7-inning games and we are used to playing wood bat games, so this will be a different challenge for us. The key element will remain the same in trying to throw the low strike and swing at good pitches.”

The Wildcats enter with a team earned run average of 2.08 with five pitchers with a 2.00 or lower ERA. The team is led by Atlanta Braves’ draft pick Cole Rohrbough, who has a 9-3 record and a 1.31 ERA. He also struck out 113 in 85 innings of work. Rohrbough will get the nod on the mound against Central Arizona. Justin Garcia will get the start in the day’s final game against the Cougars.

Garcia picked up the for the Wildcats in the teams 6-4 win in the regional championship game against Community College of Southern Nevada, where he pitched six scoreless innings.

“Justin was excellent last weekend against CCSN and that had special meaning for him because in grew up in Las Vegas and went to high school there,” the coach said. “He was unrecruited by a community college in southern Nevada, so getting a chance to beat them in a regional championship was very rewarding for him and us.”

Central Arizona will also throw its top hurlers. Josh Spence will get the start against Western Nebraska, while Joe Anson will start against Western Nevada. Both bring sizzling ERAs to the park. Spence (12-3) has a 0.96 ERA with 139 strikeouts, while Anson (6-3) had a 1.92 ERA. As a team, the pitching staff has a 3.23 ERA with 418 strikeouts.

But, Wendt said they are not just solid at pitching, but have been excelling offensively and defensively as well. “We are good at all aspects. We are not great at any one aspect by any means,” he said. “We are pretty good defensively, we can hit the ball a little bit, and we can pitch a little bit. We are not outstanding in any area, but we play very well as a team and we are well coached. My assistant coaches do an outstanding job."

Even though Central Arizona comes into the Western District with a little bit of national tournament swagger in them, everybody realized the title is up for grabs.

“As a team we are very excited to be here because there are three teams left in our district and we are fortunate enough to be one of them,” Wendt said. “All three teams are playing really well right now. For us to win, we need to continue to make the plays defensively, pitch a little bit and score some runs when we need to. Being in this position before, it comes down to the team that executes the best for two or three days.”

Whittemore said they are just excited to be playing in Nebraska.

“We are like the other two teams here, we want to keep playing,” he said. “This group of guys enjoy being around each other, they enjoy the opportunity to play and travel on the road, and hopefully to be competitive this weekend.

“All year our goal was to be playing good baseball at the end of the year and try to get better every day. We have been able to do that to this point, but you are only as good as your next game. We are excited to play two quality teams and give it our best shot.”