The Cougars, 24-37, will battle No. 2 ranked College of Southern Nevada 46-13) and potential No. 1 major league draft pick Bryce Harper. The Cougars and Southern Nevada face off in the four-team district tournament at 3 p.m. The other game pits No. 13 Lamar Community College (47-10) against No. 11 Central Arizona College (43-18) at noon to open the tournament.
“There is no pressure on us,” sophomore pitcher Armani Gonzalez said. “We just need to go out and play our game. We really don’t have to play to anybody else; we just need to play our game and we should be fine.”
The Cougars definitely have their hands full as they enter the tournament against three 40-plus win teams. Gonzalez says that anything can happen in the tournament – the key is offense.
“We have been a team based on pitching and defense, so that is what we have to be solid at. We can’t be making errors and we can’t be walking people,” Gonzalez, who was the winning pitcher in the opening round playoff win against Trinidad State on May 9, said. “Most importantly, we have to get some timely hitting. The last game we played against Lamar on Saturday, it was that we didn’t hit, we just didn’t come up with the timely hit. We had situations where we could have scored and we just need to come up with the big hit in those situations. If we come up with a couple clutch hits here and there, we could upset some people.”
WNCC will have their hands full against Southern Nevada, who is ranked second in the NJCAA. Harper, a 6-foot-3 freshman catcher from Las Vegas is the real deal according to many Major League scouts. Harper is third in the nation in home runs with 23 in 180 at bats. Harper is batting .417 on the year with 71 runs scored and 68 RBIs.
Gonzalez said playing against the best can only bring out the best in them. He is looking forward to playing CSN.
“I think it will be a good opportunity for us to play against the best and a lot of people will be watching,” he said. “if you want to play you want to beat the best, so if that guy is the best, then we will play against him.”
The Cougars, even though they enter districts with a below record, are playing well themselves. The pitching staff has been the key for the Cougars success behind Tim Beard, Gonzalez, Rodil Martinez, JC Morales and Julio Davalo.
Beard is 9-3 on the season and is hoping to bounce back from a rough outing against Lamar last Friday. Gonzales, though, is hoping he stays on fire. He is 1-1 in playoff games, and despite him picking up the loss in the 2-0 loss to Lamar on Saturday, he has pitched well. Gonzalez said he goes out on the mound and leads by example.
“I just take it [pitching in the playoffs] as any other game even though it not,” Gonzales said. “I just try to lead by example and get the guys fired up. I figure if I can go in and get three outs, I will give my team a chance to score. That will then give us a better chance of winning.”
WNCC Is making its second appearance in the West Districts. The Cougars hosted the district tournament back in 2007 when Western Nevada Community College defeated Central Arizona College for the trip to the NJCAA World Series. Gonzales said that he would love to make that national tournament trip.
“We are pretty excited to be playing in the district tournament,” he said. “Even though we came up short for the regional championship we still can be the team that has gone the farthest and make it to the Junior College World Series.”
The losers of the first round will face each other in an elimination game on Friday at 11 a.m., while the winners face off at 2 p.m. The championship is slated for Saturday at noon with an if-necessary game to follow.
The winner of the West Districts qualifies for the JUCO World Series May 29 through June 5 in Grand Junction, Colo.
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